The last year’s runners-up Punjab Kings are all set to take on Gujarat Titans in Chandigarh as the Shreyas Iyer-led side kickstart their IPL 2026 campaign. After a brilliant run in the previous edition, PBKS lost the finale against Royal Challengers Bengaluru who lifted their first cup.
GT, on the other side, won the title in their first appearance in 2022 and then ended as runners-up in 2023. The Titans played both their finals under the leadership of Hardik Pandya who later returned back to Mumbai Indians. The Shubman Gill-led side made it to the playoffs in the last edition but lost to Mumbai Indians in the Eliminator and bowed out of the tournament.
Sai Sudharsan and Prasidh Krishna top the charts. While Sudharsan struck 759 runs in 15 matches, Krishna scalped 25 wickets. Apart from these two, captain Shubman Gill also performed well with the bat as he notched up 650 runs in the season.
For Punjab Kings, Shreyas Iyer starred with the bat with most runs as he scored 604 runs in 17 games. Arshdeep Singh was the pick of the bowlers for Punjab with 21 scalps in 17 games. Here we take a look at three players to watch out for in the PBKS vs GT contest.
Shubman Gill
Shubman Gill will be leading the side in the encounter against Punjab Kings. The IPL 2026 is going to be an important tournament for the right-handed batter after he had missed the bus for the T20 World Cup 2026 despite playing as the vice-captain during the series against South Africa.
After his omission, Gill will now be eyeing a comeback in T20I setup and the cash-rich league would be the perfect platform for him. Having scored runs in the previous edition and leading GT to the Playoffs, Gill would look to replicate his performance in this season as well and produce better results for the team.
Shreyas Iyer
Shreyas Iyer is a very experienced campaigner when it comes to the IPL. He has led Kolkata Knight Riders to the title and was the captain of the Punjab Kings when they played the finale in the last season. Moreover, Shreyas was also among the runs in the last season.
The right-handed batter would look to begin from he left and would be looking to leave a mark. Iyer would be responsible to anchor the innings till the end especially if the side is chasing.
Rashid Khan
Rashid Khan didn’t really have a great season in the last edition as he just picked 9 wickets and especially at an economy 9.34. The spinner would look to turn the tables for himself and the team. Rashid’s form will be crucial for GT as well. If Rashid stays among wickets, the Titans will be able to keep a check on the opposition’s scoring-rate.
Pitch Report
The track could be a decent one with help for both batters and the pace bowlers. Last season, the scores were mostly around 200. There were also games where teams were bowled out for very low scores. So, expect a good contest between bat and ball.
In the last T20 at this venue, India were bowled out for 162 in reply to South Africa’s 213.
Win prediction: Punjab Kings have a slight edge as they have Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansen in the ranks who could trouble the batters.
Predicted XIs:
Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (c), Marcus Stoinis, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marco Jansen, Azmatullah Omarzai, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal. Impact sub: Vijaykumar Vyshak.
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj. Impact sub: Sai Kishore
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