Yash Dayal was dropped from the Gujarat Titans playing XI for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 encounter against Punjab Kings in Mohali on Thursday. The young pacer had a horrible outing in the previous match against Kolkata Knight Riders as Rinku Singh slammed him for five sixes in the final over to guide his team to victory. Dayal was replaced by Mohit Sharma who made his debut for the franchise. Skipper Hardik Pandya also made his return to the squad in place of Vijay Shankar.
"Bowling first. Just looks like a good wicket, and from whatever I've seen it's good to chase. Was a one-in-a-million defeat. We are the kind of team that takes it with a smile. Played good cricket until that last over. It happens. It's a fresh game. We'll come out and smile, and throw some punches. I don't know (any changes?). It's there in the paper," Pandya said at the toss.
Punjab Kings captain Shikhar Dhawan said they too were looking to bowl first.
"Doesn't bother us. We're looking to bowl first. We have been playing good cricket. Quite normal to go through this in cricket. Won't be the first time or the last (loss against SRH). Looking forward to putting up a great show."
PBKS made two changes with Kagiso Rabada coming in for Nathan Ellis and Bhanuka Rajapaksa replacing Sikandar Raza. Matthew Short continued to retain his position in the team.
Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prabhsimran Singh, Matthew Short, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rishi Dhawan, Arshdeep Singh.
Gujarat Titans: Hardik Pandya (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma, Joshua Little.