Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to bowl first in the 17th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh on Saturday.
Praful Hinge is making his IPL debut, replacing Jaydev Unadkat in the Sunrisers Hyderabad side. Sunrisers Hyderabad also introduced Salil Arora in place of Liam Livingstone as part of two changes from their previous game.
Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer confirmed that Priyansh Arya was named in the playing XI, with Nehal Wadhera expected to feature later as the Impact Substitute.
During the toss, Iyer said: “We’re going to bowl first. It’s a day game, and obviously want to get a knack of how the wicket is going to play and a fair idea. But other than that, that’s what we’ve been doing in the last couple of games. We’ve been thriving on that. Just back each other, back all the youngsters in the team. The more you tell them, the more confusing it gets for them. So, it’s better that they live in their own nature and express themselves. No, we’re going with the same team. Actually, bowling first, Priyansh comes in for Nehal.”
Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Ishan Kishan said: “We would have loved to bowl first. But yeah, I think wicket looks pretty hard to me. And it’s about playing good cricket in the first innings. (On captaining) Obviously, it’s a big disadvantage for any team. Pat is a tremendous bowler. He gets on with an experience of his. But still, I feel we’ve got a young side, young bowlers today in the team. Hopefully, we’ll just try and execute the plans, which is the most important thing in T20 cricket. Yeah, there are two changes. Salil comes in in place of Livingstone and Praful Hinge; it’s his debut game in place of Jaydev Unadkat.”
The Punjab Kings playing XI comprised Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh (wicketkeeper), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s playing XI included Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper and captain), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Harshal Patel, and Eshan Malinga.
Sunrisers Hyderabad impact substitutes were Jaydev Unadkat, Liam Livingstone, Shivam Mavi, Praful Hinge, and Kamindu Mendis. Punjab Kings impact substitutes included Nehal Wadhera, Vishnu Vinod, Suryansh Shedge, Yash Thakur, and Harpreet Brar.