Ahmedabad, June 1 (IANS) Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal is back for Punjab Kings as skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bowl first against Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2025 Qualifier 2 clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday. The winner of this clash will meet Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the final on Tuesday.
Chahal last played for PBKS in their league stage clash against Rajasthan Royals on May 18, before a right wrist injury kept him on the sidelines, including in the side’s crushing eight-wicket loss to RCB in the Qualifier 1 in New Chandigarh. He now comes into the Qualifier 2 clash in place of left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar.
With PBKS bowling first, they have added pacer Vyshak Vijaykumar into the playing eleven in place of Prabhsimran Singh, who will now come in as the impact player during the chase. Iyer stated that the overcast and windy conditions played a part in him electing to bowl first.
“The wickets was also under covers yesterday. It’s a fresh day, we’ve recovered pretty well, rejuvenated and our mindset is to go out there and win. Boys are in high spirits, everyone’s thinking positive. The environment in the dressing room is top-notch at the moment, so I can’t complain much,” he said.
Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya said he also wanted to bowl, while adding that left-arm pacer Reece Topley comes in for Richard Gleeson, who picked a niggle during their 20-run win over Gujarat Titans’ in the Eliminator in New Chandigarh.
“Looks like a decent track, just need to bat well, assess the conditions early and I think we’ll be okay. It (pitch) has gotten much flatter, the balls have stopped doing as much as it used to do. If you bowl well, fast bowlers tend to get some help.”
“At the same point of time, if you bat well, you can score a lot of runs. There are a lot of areas where we could have got better in the last game. Playing a tight crucial game, one day break, it’s tough but we are into a rhythm and we know what we need to execute.”
“We came very early morning after the game, we needed some rest, most of the guys focused on recovery and being fresh for today. The intensity will be very important and we’re looking forward to it,” he said.
Playing XIs
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (captain), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Raj Bawa, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, and Reece Topley
Impact Substitutes: Ashwani Kumar, Krishnan Shrijith, Raghu Sharma, Robin Minz, and Bevon Jacobs
Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Josh Inglis (wk), Shreyas Iyer (captain), Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Shashank Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Kyle Jamieson, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, and Yuzvendra Chahal
Impact Substitutes: Prabhsimran Singh, Praveen Dubey, Suryansh Shedge, Xavier Bartlett, and Harpreet Brar
–IANS