New Chandigarh, April 11. Punjab Kings won the toss and chose to bowl against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 17th match of the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the PCA New International Cricket Stadium on Saturday. PBKS have not made any changes to their team, while Sunrisers Hyderabad has dropped Liam Livingstone and Jaydev Unadkat. Praful Hinge is making his debut for the team, and Salil Arora is back in the playing XI.
Shreyas Iyer's Punjab Kings have had a strong start to the season, remaining unbeaten in their first three matches. They won by three wickets against the Gujarat Titans and followed it up with a five-wicket victory against the Chennai Super Kings. However, their latest outing against the Kolkata Knight Riders was abandoned due to rain.
On the other hand, Sunrisers Hyderabad have had an inconsistent campaign so far. They began with a six-wicket loss to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, bounced back with a convincing 65-run win over Kolkata, but head into Saturday's clash after suffering a five-wicket defeat to the Lucknow Super Giants.
After winning the toss, Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer said, "We're going to bowl first. It's a day game, and we obviously want to get a feel for how the wicket is going to play. But besides that, that's what we've been doing in the last couple of games. We've been thriving on that. (What are the key things to address?) I personally feel that you can't control the weather," he said.
"You just have to go with the flow. And I personally feel that we don't have to address anything at any point in time. Just support each other, support all the young players on the team. The more you tell them, the more confusing it gets for them. So, it's better that they live in their own way and express themselves. No, we're going with the same team," he added.
After losing the toss, Ishan Kishan said, "We would have loved to bowl first. But yeah, I think the wicket looks pretty challenging. And it's about playing good cricket in the first innings. Obviously, it's a big disadvantage for any team. Pat is a tremendous bowler. He has experience on his side.
"But still, I feel we have a young side, with young bowlers today in the team. Hopefully, we'll just try and execute the plans, which is the most important thing in T20 cricket. Yeah, there are two changes. Salil comes in place of Livingstone and Praful Hinge; it's his debut game, in place of Jaydev Unadkat," he added.
Playing XIs:
Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh(w), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer(c), Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Impact Substitutes: Nehal Wadhera, Vishnu Vinod, Suryansh Shedge, Yash Thakur, Harpreet Brar
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(wk/c), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Harshal Patel, Eshan Malinga
Impact Substitutes: Jaydev Unadkat, Liam Livingstone, Shivam Mavi, Praful Hinge, Kamindu Mendis