Overview: Both Punjab and Gujarat have ended their winning streak last Sunday. After being at the top of the table, both teams have slipped 3 – 4 places down and they will want to get back to winning ways quickly. This will be the second away game for Gujarat and second home game for Punjab. Gujarat Titans will never forget their only clash where Rahul Tewatia did a Rinku Singh to Odean Smith.
PUNJAB KINGS: Punjab went through mixed emotions after that loss against the Sunrisers about the margin of defeat, because it could’ve been even worse if not for that Shikhar Dhawan epic where he stitched a 50+ run partnership with the No.11 single handedly. Their biggest worry will be about their middle order which faltered, and they are missing the services of Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Livingstone for few games. Sharukh Khan must step up and support Jitesh who is looking in good touch. Sam Curran showed glimpses of what he can do with the bat and Mathew Short had a forgettable debut. As far as their bowling has concerned, no big worries but they might make one change by dropping Raza and get Rabada in the side. Liam Livingstone joining the camp is a big bolster and one would expect him to unleash the fireworks.
GUJARAT TITANS: The Titans should’ve been sitting in the top 2 in the points table with a Hat-Trick of wins, until Rinku Singh did the unthinkable. But this result will not bother them much because they were controlling the game for a major part. They batted really well in their first 18 overs where Sudharshan & Gill did their job and amazingly well in the final 2, where Vijay Shankar went berserk. Their bowling was little disappointing up until the 17th over. And they won’t be worried about what happened to Yash Dayal and hope they won’t drop him for this game as their head coach Ashish Nehra, another left arm seamer has been in this situation before in 2013 as he was not able to defend 23 runs in the 20th over for the Pune Warriors. Overall, the Titans will be happy that they have won 2 games without major contribution from their Captain Hardik Pandya both with the bat and ball. If Hardik is fit, he might replace Manohar. Finally, Dasun Shanaka joining the camp will give them a boost in their All- Rounder department.
PROBABLE XIII:
PUNJAB KINGS: S DHAWAN (C), P SINGH, M SHORT, J SHARMA (WK), S RAZA, S CURRAN, S KHAN, H BRAR, R CHAHAR, A SINGH, N ELLIS (IMPACT SUBS – R DHAWAN & M RATHEE)
GUJARAT TITANS: W SAHA (WK), S GILL, S SUDHARSHAN, V SHANKAR, H PANDYA (C), D MILLER, R TEWATIA, R KHAN, A JOSEPH, M SHAMI, Y DAYAL (IMPACT SUBS – J LITTLE & A MANOHAR)
INTERESTING FACTS:
- Hardik Pandya needs 24 runs to reach 2000 IPL runs.
- David Miller needs 12 runs to reach 2500 IPL runs.
- Saha needs 17 runs to reach 2500 IPL runs.
- Dhawan needs 31 runs to reach 6500 IPL runs and will only be the 2nd batter after Virat Kohli to achieve this feat.
- Arshdeep needs 4 wickets to reach 50 IPL wickets.
- Rabada needs 1 wicket to reach 100 IPL wickets.
PITCH & WEATHER REPORT: The weather is clear and fine for a complete 40 over game, no rain is expected but dew is expected to play a big role. Historically teams prefer to chase here considering the dew factor. This pitch has neither been a high scoring nor a low scoring venue as the par score is 165.
MATCH DETAILS:
TIME – 7:30 PM
DATE – 13th APRIL 2023
VENUE: IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali.
LIVE STREAMING: Star Sports Network and Jio Cinema
DREAM XI TEAM:
