Punjab Kings (PBKS) are taking on Mumbai Indians (MI) in Match 33 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium. The PBKS team made notable changes to their playing XI for the game, including the absence of star opener Jonny Bairstow.

Reason behind Jonny Bairstow’s absence

Punjab Kings’ captain Sam Curran won the toss and elected to bowl first. The team has been dealing with the absence of their regular skipper, Shikhar Dhawan, who is out due to a shoulder injury. In his place, Curran has continued to lead the side.

In addition to Dhawan’s absence, PBKS made one more change to their lineup, benching opener Bairstow. Notably, Bairstow has struggled in the tournament so far, managing only 96 runs from 6 innings with a poor average of 16 and a strike rate of 131.50. Rilee Rossouw has replaced Bairstow in the team, making his season debut.

First game for the South African star

Rossouw, the South African star, will be participating in his first game of the season for PBKS. With his experience from 14 IPL matches in his career, Rossouw has scored 262 runs at an average of 21.83, including one fifty.

Along with Bairstow, PBKS has also benched Atharva Taide, who opened in the last match in Dhawan’s absence and scored 15 runs from 12 balls.

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No changes for Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians have opted for a consistent lineup, making no changes to their playing XI. Despite losing their last match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), MI remained confident in their existing team composition.

“We will have a bowl. Keeping up with the trend of the tournament. Shikhar is not well, so that’s the only injury and Rilee comes in for Jonny today. It is not nice to lose the close games but we are doing a lot of things right. Taide drops out of the side, just a couple of tactical changes,” said Curran at the toss.

Playing XI of both teams

Punjab Kings: Rilee Rossouw, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Liam Livingstone, Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh

Impact Subs: Rahul Chahar, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Harpreet Bhatia, Shivam Singh, Rishi Dhawan

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Mohammad Nabi, Gerald Coetzee, Shreyas Gopal, Jasprit Bumrah

Impact Subs: Akash Madhwal, Nuwan Thushara, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Naman Dhir

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