New Chandigarh, Apr 8: Punjab Kings (PBKS) won the toss and opted to bat first against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Match 22 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium here on Tuesday.

After winning their opening two games, Punjab were brought down to earth with a massive 50-run defeat against Rajasthan Royals in their previous outing. A collapse in the middle-order saw the Kings stumble and were handed their first defeat in the Ponting-Iyer era but the side still opted to field an unchanged playing XIs.

Captain Shreyas Iyer claimed he trusts his bowling attack to win them the game in the run-chase and will be looking to make the best use of the conditions.

“We are going to have a bat first, it's simply because we had a discussion about how our batting lineup is, and we need to make the best use of it. In the last game, the dew wasn't that much, but that's not in our control; we need to back our strengths,” said Iyer at the presentation.

"We are going in with the same team. We have got really good bowlers in our team, but it's important how use use them on a given occasion. The last game, the ball wasn't turning very much, got to give credit to the Rajasthan batsmen as well," he added.

On the other hand, the Chennai-based franchise are languishing in ninth place in the table after having failed to complete their run-chase in their previous three games. The question that hangs over the side is despite having a strong top-order, the side lacks serious batting depth, which has left fans unsure of their capability of chasing big totals.

Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad also revealed, after many criticised his decision to not open the innings, that him coming at No.3 provides more balance to the side.

“We were looking to bat first as well, pretty dry wicket, new conditions for us, and we need to adapt as soon as possible. We have been bowling pretty well, but we have conceded more than 15 runs an over twice in an innings. Hopefully, we can improve on that,” said Gaikwad.

"We also need to improve our fielding. Same team for us. Me batting at 3 gives a bit more balance to our squad, it was decided during the auction time, and hoping our openers will come good today. We have always been behind the game in the powerplay, it's just about going there and enjoying yourselves," he said.

Playing XIs:

Chennai Super Kings: Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Vijay Shankar, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), R. Ashwin, Noor Ahmad, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Khaleel Ahmed

Impact subs: Shivam Dube, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Anshul Kamboj, Jamie Overton

Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Nehal Wadhera, Glenn Maxwell, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson, Yuzvendra Chahal

Impact subs: Suryansh Shedge, Yash Thakur, Praveen Dubey, Azmatullah Omarzai, Vyshak Vijaykumar

(IANS)

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