In a rare move, a team in IPL 2025 chose to bat first after winning the toss for the first time since last Saturday. According to Punjab Kings’ Shreyas Iyer, he noticed cracks on the pitch in Kolkata and anticipated it would become more challenging as the match went on. This decision also marked the first instance this season that a team had opted to bat first at Eden Gardens.
Tonight’s game at this particular strip marked its third match of the season. According to reports, the pitch was dry and worn out. PBKS was also banking on the breeze settling in to prevent any potential dew later on in the night. As a contingency plan, they kept the option open to bring in Harpreet Brar as their Impact Player.
With the conditions in mind, PBKS made some strategic changes to their XI by welcoming back Glenn Maxwell, who not only adds strength as a spin batter compared to Marcus Stoinis but also brings his own skills as a spinner. In addition, Azmatullah Omarzai was brought onto the team for PBKS.
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In a tense bid to maintain their title, Kolkata Knight Riders gave rookie players Rovman Powell and Chetan Sakariya the opportunity to make their debut. Notably, Angkrish Raghuvanshi was anticipated to be their key player. Surprisingly, retained player Ramandeep Singh was not included in either the starting lineup or the list of substitutes.
After eight games, PBKS found themselves in fifth place on the table with 10 points. However, they still have one game in hand. On the other hand, KKR, the defending champions, were currently seventh on the table with only three wins out of eight matches.
The Punjab Kings consists of Prabhsimran Singh (1), Priyansh Arya (2), Shreyas Iyer as captain (3), Josh Inglis as wicket-keeper (4), Shashank Singh (5), Nehal Wadhera (6), Glenn Maxwell (7), Azmatullah Omarzai (8), Marco Jansen (9), Yuzvendra Chahal (10), and Arshdeep Singh (11).
Among the potential game-changers for the team, we have Harpreet Brar, Musheer Khan, Praveen Dubey, Vijaykumar Vyshak, and Suryansh Shedge.
The Kolkata Knight Riders have chosen a solid lineup consisting of 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz as the wicket-keeper, followed by 2 Sunil Narine and 3 Venkatesh Iyer. 4 Ajinkya Rahane will be leading the team as captain, while 5 Rinku Singh, 6 Andre Russell, and 7 Rovman Powell make up the middle order. The bowling department will be handled by 8 Vaibhav Arora, 9 Chetan Sakariya, and 10 Harshit Rana, with Varun Chakravarthy rounding out the lineup.
Listed as potential game-changers are Anrich Nortje, Manish Pandey, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, and Luvnith Sisodia.
