NEW DELHI: Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar won the toss and elected to bowl 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. The wicket looks very hard with a decent grass cover, and we’ll try to make the most of the first few overs. Everyone gave more than 100 percent in the last game — Jitesh, Salt, and Kohli were tremendous. One change for us: Hazlewood comes in for Thushara,” said Patidar at the toss.Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer also made a single change, with Azmatullah Omarzai coming in for Marco Jansen.“We would have bowled first as well. Looking at the record here, teams batting first have done well, so I’m optimistic. The crowd has been tremendous — you need that kind of energy when you walk onto the field. The way our openers have shown a fearless approach has been brilliant. Marco goes out and Azmatullah comes in,” Iyer said.
Why is Yuzvendra Chahal not playing today?Punjab Kings’ star spinner Yuzvendra Chahal’s absence from the playing XI for this crucial match raised eyebrows among fans. Bought for a hefty ?18 crore at the 2025 auction, Chahal was expected to play a key role in the playoffs.However, the India leg-spinner is reportedly dealing with a minor niggle that kept him out of PBKS’s last two league matches. Despite head coach Ricky Ponting expressing hope about his recovery, Chahal has been left out of the squad, likely due to not being fully match-fit.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 Sharma
Impact Substitutes:PBKS: Vijaykumar Vyshak, Praveen Dubey, Suryansh Shedge, Musheer Khan, Xavier BartlettRCB: Mayank Agarwal, Rasikh Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Tim Seifert, Swapnil Singh
