🏏IPL 2026: PBKS vs SRH, 17th Match, New Chandigarh🏏 - Page 2

What they said:

"When I came to PBKS - it has been eight years now - I did not get many chances in the first four years. I used to sit outside and think [about] how I could get a chance to play. But because of Impact Player, opportunities have increased - Prabhsimran Singh backs the unpopular Impact Player rule"

"We need to work on our batting. Giving so many wickets early on makes it easier for the opposition team" - Ishan Kishan after loss to LSG

Thank you Raji for the thread and for tagging ❤️

Best wishes to both the teams

Despite a dull start in Kolkata where a game was washed out on Monday, it's been an enthralling week of IPL cricket. RR smashing 150 in 11 overs in a rain-curtailed game, back-to-back nail-biting last-ball finishes and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi putting on a show against the defending champions last night. Expect plenty of thrills and spills as the week ends with two double-headers. Hello everyone and a warm welcome to Game 17. It's Punjab Kings - one of the two unbeaten teams this year - up against Sunrisers Hyderabad who currently sit in the bottom half of the table with one win and two losses.

The last four matches between these two teams have been won by the Sunrisers. While it's a clash between two strong batting line-ups, the bowlers aren't expected to be mere cannon fodder. It's an afternoon game, so dew is out of the equation. Promises to be a cracking game of cricket. Stick around for toss and team updates.

"The 1st game and even the statistics don't suggest that there will be plenty of runs on offer here," Huzefa chimes in. "My guess is 170 plays 170." Ah well, to think of days when 170 on the board used to plenty!

Pitch Report | Dale Steyn: "From a team perspective, we're looking at some of those SRH batters and they are incredibly destructive. But just to talk about the wicket quickly, it's a day game, so it's going to be slightly different. We've seen scores here of 160, 170 a couple of weeks ago. Again, a low scoring game. So I think the bowlers are the ones that are smiling. We're not going to get those big 220s, 230s this afternoon. I think batting first, you'll see that 170 kind of area and then as the sun starts to drop down, it'll skid on and become a little bit better. I think you're gonna find your match-up. On this pitch, it just brings them a little bit closer together. You can hold your length a little bit. I think it's going to be slightly slower. Batters need to create pace and power. This pitch won't allow you just to have your hands and throw it. Yes, the new ball a little bit as the innings goes on, it becomes slightly slower, slightly more tricky for the batters and it just brings the bowlers back into the game in terms of economy rate."

MC: "Two teams today will be playing after a fairly long break since their last game. Will be interesting to see what that break has done, and whether it can prove to be the catalyst for change for SRH and also CSK later in the evening."

Travis Head: (How's your form?) Mixed form. The start, early days, so plenty to play for obviously today, but we've probably played one really, really good game, one not-so-good game, and one par game, so we know what our best is now after playing in Kolkata, so trying to do that as many times as possible. We're always feeling good, we're in a good space, we train hard, we prepare well, so probably more so on how we play rather than feel. (Pressure to give good starts for the openers?) It's pressure with everything, so I don't think we add any more pressure by going out and playing as a partnership. We know if we can start well, it gives us a great platform. This game's pretty brutal, we can't do that every time. You try your best, you play your best, but this competition is full of pressure, so we don't want to feel any added pressure as it is. (On being aggressive always) That's why you play the game, it's enjoyable. Yeah, you like to go out there and try to set the platform for the team. It's the job that we've been put into, and we know if we do well that we can set the game up for the rest of the boys. So that's the challenge. We get another challenge and we get another opportunity to do that today. (Walks with Abhishek Sharma) Not too much. He's a rockstar, so I just let Abhi do his thing.

The captains head out to the middle. We are ready for the toss.

Shreyas Iyer flips the coin. Heads is the call, but it lands tails. Shreyas - and PBKS - decide to bowl first.

"It's a day game. Want to get a knack of how the wicket plays. Other than that, we've been thriving on [assessing conditions]. You can't control nature - we have to go with the flow," Shreyas says. "Just back each other, all the youngsters in the team. Better to live in their own nature and express themselves... Priyansh comes in for Nehal [Wadhera]."

"We would have loved to bowl first. Wicket's looked pretty hard to me," Ishan Kishan says. "Pat is a tremendous bowler. But still, we've got a young bowler in the team. We'll execute the plans, which is the important thing. Salim comes in place of Livingstone, and Praful Hinge - on his debut game - in place of Unadkat."