In the first weekend of the Indian Premier league (IPL), the home side Kings XI Punjab won the toss and decided to field first at Holkar stadium in Indore.
Rising Pune Supergiant skipper Steven Smith made two changes from the winning combination of the last game, as he dropped fast bowler Deepak Chahar in favour of his younger brother Rahul Chahar, a leg-spinner, who is the member of India Under19.
In the second change, all-rounder Daniel Christian came in for Adam Zampa.
There was neither Ishant Sharma nor Varun Aaron for Kings XI Punjab line-up, as skipper Glenn Maxwell went ahead with Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma and T Natarajan in the pace bowling line-up.
Hashim Amla was chosen over Eoin Morgan. Swapnil Singh also secured a place in the squad along with Axar Patel to strengthen up the spin department.
Here is what captain said at the toss –
Smith:
“We would have had a bowl as well, it looks like it will be consistent for 40 overs. From the previous game, we felt we timed our chase nicely but we’d like to execute our bowling better. Rahul Chahar has come in for his brother Deepak, and Dan Christian comes in for Zampa.”
Maxwell:
“This wicket has been very flat, similar to our practice wickets. The guys have enjoyed training, the facilities have been great. We looked good in the practice games and are excited to go. Our four foreign players are Amla, Miller, Stonis and myself.”
Both the teams have faced each other twice in past with both of them registering win apiece.
Here is the playing XI of both the sides –
RPS playing XI – Ajinkya Rahane, Mayank Agarwal, Steven Smith (C), Ben Stokes, MS Dhoni (wk), Manoj Tiwary, Daniel Christian, Rajat Bhatia, Rahul Chahar, Imran Tahir, Ashok Dinda.