NEW DELHI: Rajat Patidar, leading Royal Challengers Bengaluru, won the toss and elected to field first against Punjab Kings in the IPL 2025 Qualifier 1 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, Chandigarh.RCB made one change to their playing XI, bringing in Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood in place of Nuwan Thushara.“We will bowl first. Wicket looks very hard, decent covering of grass and will try to maximise the first few overs. Everyone gave more than 100 percent in the last game, Jitesh, Salt and Kohli they were tremendous. One change for us. Hazlewood comes in place of Thushara,” said Patidar at the toss.Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer also made one change to his side, with Azmatullah Omarzai replacing Marco Jansen.
“Would have bowled first as well. If you look at the record here, teams batting first have done well, so I am optimistic. They (the crowd) have been tremendous and you need such kind of vibration when you enter the ground and it gives us a lot of energy as well. The way they (openers) have been showing the fearless approach and the attitude has been brilliant. Marco goes out and Azmatullah comes in for him,” said Iyer.Why is Jitesh Sharma not leading RCB today?Rajat Patidar, who had been sidelined with a finger injury during RCB’s clash against Chennai Super Kings before the league break, returned to lead the side after regaining fitness.In Patidar’s absence, Jitesh Sharma had taken over the captaincy. Under his leadership, RCB sealed a playoff spot with a dramatic six-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants. Jitesh scored an unbeaten 85 while Virat Kohli contributed 54 as RCB chased down 228 to finish second in the standings and secure a Qualifier 1 clash with table-toppers Punjab Kings.The result dropped Gujarat Titans to third, setting up their Eliminator clash against Mumbai Indians on Friday.Playing XIs:Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Josh Inglis (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Kyle JamiesonRoyal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Philip Salt, Rajat Patidar (c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash SharmaImpact Substitutes:Punjab Kings: Vijaykumar Vyshak, Praveen Dubey, Suryansh Shedge, Musheer Khan, Xavier BartlettRCB: Mayank Agarwal, Rasikh Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Tim Seifert, Swapnil Singh
