Rajasthan Royals won the toss and opted to bowl against Punjab Kings in the last fixture of IPL 2026 at New Chandigarh. RR skipper Riyan Parag chose the bowling option as conditions appeared to favour his plan, with overhead cloud cover and light showers in the air.
Parag explained that the “cloud cover and little showers as well” influenced his decision to bowl first. Rajasthan also reshuffled their XI with two changes: allrounder Dasun Shanaka came in for Shimron Hetmyer, while legspinner Yash Raj Punja replaced Ravi Bishnoi.
Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer said he too was leaning toward bowling, noting that the pitch had been “covered for a couple of days”. PBKS made two alterations to their lineup—one being forced. Suryansh Shedge replaced Shashank Singh, and fast bowler Lockie Ferguson made his first appearance of the season, taking the spot of Xavier Bartlett. It was also the first occasion in this IPL campaign that Punjab have altered their playing XI.
Iyer also extended condolences to Azmatalluah Omarzai following the loss of his mother.
Punjab Kings arrive in this match riding a strong run of form, having not lost a game so far in the tournament. Their previous outing featured what proved to be the highest successful chase in T20 cricket, as they chased down 265 with seven balls remaining. Through seven matches, they have collected six wins, with the other game ending in a washout.
Rajasthan’s campaign started with four consecutive victories, but they then suffered a setback by losing two matches in quick succession. They bounced back to winning ways against Lucknow Super Giants and enter this contest after being beaten by Sunrisers Hyderabad three days earlier.
Rajasthan Royals XI
- 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal
- 2 Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
- 3 Dhruv Jurel (wk)
- 4 Riyan Parag (capt)
- 5 Donovan Ferreira
- 6 Dasun Shanaka
- 7 Ravindra Jadeja
- 8 Jofra Archer
- 9 Brijesh Sharma
- 10 Nandre Burger
- 11 Yash Raj Punja
RR impact options: Ravi Bishnoi, Ravi Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Shubham Dubey, Shimron Hetmyer
Punjab Kings XI
- 1 Priyansh Arya
- 2 Prabhsimran Singh (wk)
- 3 Cooper Connolly
- 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt)
- 5 Nehal Wadhera
- 6 Marcus Stoinis
- 7 Suryansh Shedge
- 8 Marco Jansen
- 9 Lockie Ferguson
- 10 Arshdeep Singh
- 11 Yuzvendra Chahal
PBKS impact options: Vishnu Vinod, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Xavier Bartlett, Harpreet Brar, Musheer Khan
