Liam Livingstone dropped as PBKS opt to field against SRH in New Chandigarh

Punjab Kings (PBKS) won the toss and elected to bowl first against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 17th match of IPL 2026 clash on Saturday, opting to chase in the afternoon conditions.

PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer said the decision was influenced by the nature of the day game and the team’s recent success while chasing.

''We're going to bowl first. It's a day game and obviously want to get a knack of how the wicket is going to play and a fair idea. But other than that, that's what we've been doing in the last couple of games. We've been thriving on that. (Things to address?) I personally feel that you can't control the nature of the weather. You've just got to go with the flow. And I personally feel that we don't have to address anything at any point of time. Just back each other, back all the youngsters in the team. The more you tell them, the confusing it gets for them. So, it's better that they live in their own nature and express themselves. No, we're going with the same team. Actually, bowling first, Priyansh comes in for Nehal,'' Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer

Stand-in captain Ishan Kishan admitted SRH would have preferred to bowl first but remained confident about setting a target.

''We would have loved to bowl first. But yeah, I think wicket looks pretty hard to me. And it's about playing good cricket in the first innings. (On captaining) Obviously, it's a big disadvantage for any team, Pat is a tremendous bowler. He gets on with an experience of his. But still, I feel we've got a young side, young bowlers today in the team. And hopefully, we'll just try and execute the plans, which is the most important thing in T20 cricket. Yeah, there are two changes. Salil comes in in place of Livingstone and Praful Hinge, it's his debut game, in place of Jaydev Unadkat,'' Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Ishan Kishan

Playing XI for PBKS vs SRH

Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh(w), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer(c), Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w/c), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Harshal Patel, Eshan Malinga

Impact Subs for PBKS vs SRH

Sunrisers Hyderabad Impact subs: Jaydev Unadkat, Liam Livingstone, Shivam Mavi, Praful Hinge, Kamindu Mendis

Punjab Kings Impact subs: Nehal Wadhera, Vishnu Vinod, Suryansh Shedge, Yash Thakur, Harpreet Brar