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Deshpande Excluded, Sanju Samson Returns As Captain; Shreyas Iyer Puts RR To Bat First

Rajgeeta Yadav

PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bowl first [Source: JioHotstar]PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bowl first [Source: JioHotstar]

On April 5, Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) locked horns in the 18th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur. At toss, PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to field first against Sanju Samson's RR. 

Talking about the changes, RR have made one change from their previous playing XI, bringing Yudhvir Singh Charak in place of Tushar Deshpande. Meanwhile, PBKS have made no change in their playing XI.


PBKS vs RR: Captains' Thought

Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals Captain): "Yeah, I have to be happy with batting first! Looking forward to batting first and putting a decent score on the board. I think I could feel the coaches. Very excited and happy to be back. To be honest, it is a very new team and management. We are getting to know each other. It takes a bit of time. Three games are perfect for it. We have a small niggle in the camp. Tushar Deshpande misses out."

Shreyas Iyer (Punjab Kings Captain): "We will bowl first. Looking at the last game, it was the first game of the season on that surface. Same mindset here, we want to see how the surface plays. We played few practice games here. Kind of gets better when the dew comes in later.

We need to stabilise from game one and that happened. It is important to steady the ship. Boys are in high spirits, as we go forward we need to keep composure and calmness. Sometimes it gets to your head."

PBKS vs RR: Playing XIs

Rajasthan Royals Playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c and wk), Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Yudhvir Singh, Sandeep Sharma

Punjab Kings Playing XI: Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Marcus Stoinis, Nehal Wadhera, Glenn Maxwell, Shashank Singh, Suryansh Shedge, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson, Yuzvendra Chahal

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