Chennai, April 3 Punjab Kings (PBKS) won the toss and chose to bowl against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the seventh match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
"We will bowl first," said PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer. "Since it's their first home match, I think the pitch is fresh. It would be great to know how it plays. Based on that, I've made this decision."
Speaking about his hand injury, Iyer said, "It's fresh. I just want to be positive in my approach. I feel that if I say anything negative, it will affect my body. I just want to stay calm. It gives us a lot of confidence. The motivation we got from the last game will be helpful today. We just want to play to the best of our abilities."
On his batting, he said, "I feel that I prefer to take on bowlers when things are tough. That's the mindset I had last season. This season, I came with a similar mindset. The batsmen are clearing the boundaries easily these days. That's a positive for the whole team. We are going with the same team."
Saying that he is happy to bat first, CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad said, "I think the pitch looks a bit dry. I don't think it will change much. It will remain the same. It's early April. Dew will be a factor. If you can score runs and defend on this track, it will be a good day."
On their batting collapse in the last match against the Rajasthan Royals, Gaikwad said, "You just have to accept that we faced tough conditions. It's one of those games where you try to be positive and make mistakes. What has happened is in the past. You just need to focus on this game and be better prepared. It's about taking it game by game. That's the key for CSK as a franchise, having a strong top order. Opening partnerships have been very successful for us. It's great to have Sanju opening with me. We have one change tonight. Prashant Veer will replace Matt Short."
Playing XIs:
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (c), Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Impact substitutes: Suryansh Shedge, Priyansh Arya, Vishnu Vinod, Pravin Dubey, Hemant Brar
Chennai Super Kings: Sanju Samson (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ayush Mhatre, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Matt Henry, Khaleel Ahmed
Impact substitutes: Jamie Overton, Rahul Chahar, Matthew Short, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Gurjapneet Singh