Lucknow, Apr 15 (IANS): The Sam Curran-captained Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to bowl first against Lucknow Super Giants in Match 21 of IPL 2023 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium here on Saturday.
While Lucknow head into their home game after chasing down 212 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in a thrilling one-wicket win at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Punjab go into the match after suffering a six-wicket loss to defending champions Gujarat Titans in their backyard.
Curran said Dhawan is unavailable for Satu'day's match as he had picked up an injury in their last game against Gujarat. "Don't know how bad it is but hopefully he (Dhawan) won't be out long. His absence is huge, we've got two Indian batters (Atharva Taide and Harpreet Singh Bhatia) coming in and (Sikandar) Raza is back in the eleven," he said.
Lucknow skipper K.L. Rahul stated he is happy doing anything, and that his main focus is just on enjoying their cricket, with Jammu & Kashmir right-arm pacer Yudhvir Singh Charak getting his first IPL game.
"First game on this strip, anything would have worked. It is exciting to challenge ourselves in different conditions. It is our first season here, so each game we'll assess and modify."
"Every game we make a few changes, settle on a 12-13 and take a call depending on the game. Each game we have turned up and we have been challenged every time, but players have found answers. Everyone is enjoying the game and there is a good vibe around, really happy with the support we have got out here," he added.
Playing XIs:
Lucknow Super Giants: K.L. Rahul (c), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Ayush Badoni, Avesh Khan, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Mark Wood and Ravi Bishnoi
Substitutes: Amit Mishra, K Gowtham, Jaydev Unadkat, Prerak Mankad, Daniel Sams
Punjab Kings: Atharva Taide, Matthew Short, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Sikandar Raza, Sam Curran (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar and Arshdeep Singh
Substitutes: Prabhsimran Singh, Nathan Ellis, Mohit Rathee, Rishi Dhawan