Krunal Pandya and Hardik Pandya wrote their names in the historic books as the first set of brothers to captain opposing sides in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 encounter as Gujarat Titans take on Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday. While Hardik guided GT to the IPL title in their debut season last year, Krunal has taken over the LSG captaincy in the absence of KL Rahul. While the brothers have faced each other as opponents earlier, this is the first time that they will face off as captains.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain Krunal Pandya won the toss and opted to bowl first.
"We will bowl first. It's a dream come true for us, leading our respective sides. Overall the wicket will play the same. We have a good batting side, and we fancy our chance to chase down the total. We have played good cricket, and we stand at a good stage in the points table. de Kock is in, Naveen misses out," Lucknow Super Giants captain Krunal Pandya said at the time of toss.
"We would have batted. I got what I wanted. It's an emotional day, our father would have been proud. This is something happening for the first time, so our family is proud. One Pandya will definitely win today. It's about expressing ourselves and not worry about the result. The fear of failure might creep in, but we need to play good cricket. One forced to change, Little is out as he has to play for Ireland, Alzarri comes in for him," Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya said.
Lucknow Super Giants (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Karan Sharma, Krunal Pandya(c), Marcus Stoinis, Swapnil Singh, Yash Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan and Avesh Khan.
LSG Impact subs: Ayush Badoni, Amit Mishra, Daniel Sams, Yudhvir Singh and Prerak Mankad.
Gujarat Titans (Playing XI): Wriddhiman Saha(w), Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya(c), Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohit Sharma, Noor Ahmad and Mohammed Shami.
GT Impact subs: Alzarri Joseph, Dasun Shanaka, KS Bharat, Shivam Mavi and Jayant Yadav.
(With ANI inputs)