The high-altitude, picturesque Himachal Pradesh Cricket Affiliation (HPCA) Stadium is all set to host a high-stakes rematch of final 12 months’s last. Punjab Kings (PBKS) lock horns with the defending champions, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), in Match 61 of IPL 2026 on Sunday.
The stakes couldn’t be greater for both facet. Desk-toppers RCB enter the competition with 16 factors from 12 video games, needing only one solitary victory to formally safe their spot within the IPL 2026 playoffs. On the flip facet, Shreyas Iyer’s Punjab Kings discover themselves on skinny ice. After an distinctive unbeaten run of their first six matches, PBKS have suffered a dramatic hunch, shedding 5 consecutive matches. For them, tonight is a definitive must-win affair to maintain their playoff ambitions respiratory. Nevertheless, the most important speaking level forward of the primary ball was the sudden absence of RCB’s common skipper and middle-order linchpin, Rajat Patidar.
Why Rajat Patidar shouldn’t be taking part in towards PBKS in as we speak’s match?
The defending champions suffered a large pre-match jolt when common captain Rajat Patidar was dominated out of the essential fixture resulting from a concussion damage. Patidar, who has been in blistering type this season with 326 runs at a strike fee of 195, didn’t journey with the squad to Dharamsala and missed the crew’s pre-match follow classes.
In his absence, wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma has stepped as much as captain the Bengaluru franchise. Talking on the toss, stand-in captain Jitesh Sharma make clear Patidar’s standing and the crew’s mindset:
“We’d have cherished to bowl first, however the wicket is nice and will play properly for 40 overs. Rajat is doing incredible and we must always see him in Hyderabad. We’re on the enterprise finish of the match, and I’m proud of how the crew is performing, each individually and as a unit. Sure, we’re more than happy that the crew appears to be like so steady proper now. We’re giving our best possible in each division. One win tonight secures our spot within the playoffs, so it’s a large recreation for us. Each recreation is necessary at this stage. This win can change the whole desk – not only for us, however for a number of different groups as properly. Suyash replaces Rajat and Romario replaces Duffy.”
On the opposite facet of the coin, it’s a landmark night for Punjab Kings’ skipper Iyer, who’s strolling out for his a centesimal IPL match as captain. Successful the toss and opting to subject first, Iyer targeted on staying grounded regardless of the event:
“We’re going to bowl. I’m not going by the stats, we’re clearly seeing how the video games pan out. If we bat and bowl properly, the toss doesn’t matter. I severely had no clue that this was my a centesimal recreation as a captain but it surely feels nice. It seems like an amazing alternative for me to win my a centesimal recreation (as captain). The bowling has been incredible, however there are stress moments the place it’s essential execute and so you’ll be able to’t change the previous, nor you’ll be able to’t anticipate the long run. The sweetness is to remain within the second and see the second and benefit from the stress. Two adjustments for us: (Harpreet) Brar and Lockie (Ferguson) are available in.”
To deal with the structural shift, RCB introduced in dynamic spinner Suyash Sharma to steadiness the bowling division whereas dynamic all-rounder Romario Shepherd replaces Jacob Duffy within the taking part in squad.
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Taking part in XI and Impression Substitutes of Each Groups
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Taking part in XI): Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Venkatesh Iyer, Jitesh Sharma (wk/c), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma.
Impression Substitutes: Rasikh Salam Dar, Jordan Cox, Abhinandan Singh, Swapnil Singh, Kanishk Chouhan.
Punjab Kings (Taking part in XI): Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (c), Suryansh Shedge, Shashank Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harpreet Brar, Lockie Ferguson, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Impression Substitutes: Marcus Stoinis, Xavier Bartlett, Vishnu Vinod, Musheer Khan, Praveen Dubey.
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