Punjab Kings have won the toss and have opted to field with KL Rahul calling the decision a no-brainer. The Punjab side who are struggling in the tournament with four losses in seven games have dropped Chris Gayle from the squad. Evin Lewis has been handed a debut RR cap. He's in some monster form coming in, and Rajasthan need every bit of it. Ishan Porel, Aiden Markram and Adil Rashid too have been given their caps by the Punjab management.
Speaking at the toss, KL Rahul said, We'll bowl first. It's a no brainer, a fresh wicket with grass on. We don't know how it will play and I prefer chasing. I was just telling a few people in the dressing room that it just felt like yesterday that we were playing IPL 2020. We have a lot that we've learnt from last year. We are all professionals and we have tried hard in the heat to prefer ourselves. Pooran, Markram, Rashid and Allen are our overseas players. Unfortunately Chris Gayle misses out and Aiden has been in good form coming into our setup from Sri Lanka.
On the other hand, Sanju Samson said, "We are good are chasing and setting totals, so we were happy to do both. We have really great talent and characters in our team. It is a very positive atmosphere. Sangakkara brings in the experience, he knows what to communicate at what point. He just wanted us to relax." There's a certain IPL history these two sides come in with: a history of similar underperformance, a history of getting desperate in the second half of the league, and a history of producing some absolute thrillers when pitted against each other.
