{"id":12481,"date":"2026-05-04T06:37:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T01:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/ipl-2026-gujarat-titans-opt-to-bowl-vs-punjab-kings-nishant-sindhu-handed-debut-cricket-news\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T06:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T01:07:07","slug":"ipl-2026-gujarat-titans-opt-to-bowl-vs-punjab-kings-nishant-sindhu-handed-debut-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/ipl-2026-gujarat-titans-opt-to-bowl-vs-punjab-kings-nishant-sindhu-handed-debut-cricket-news\/","title":{"rendered":"IPL 2026: Gujarat Titans opt to bowl vs Punjab Kings; Nishant Sindhu handed debut | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-130733845,imgsize-1099656,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/shreyas-iyer-and-shubman-gill.jpg\" alt=\"IPL 2026: Gujarat Titans opt to bowl vs Punjab Kings; Nishant Sindhu handed debut\" title=\"Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill (Agency Image)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill (Agency Image)\">Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill (Agency Image)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Gujarat Titans won the toss and elected to bowl first against Punjab Kings as the playoff race begins to heat up.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"1\"\/>Explaining the decision, skipper <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/shubman-gill\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Shubman Gill<\/a> said his side wanted to stick to what has worked recently. &#8220;We are gonna bowl first. <!-- -->We have been chasing well in the past few games and our bowling is doing well, so will continue that momentum,&#8221; he noted, adding that the surface could offer something early on.<!-- --> Gill also pointed to the team peaking at the right time and praised the middle-order finishing, especially Rahul Tewatia\u2019s recent efforts. He confirmed one change, with Nishant Sindhu coming in for his debut.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"8\"\/>Punjab Kings captain <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/shreyas-iyer\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Shreyas Iyer<\/a>, meanwhile, felt the pitch looked good for batting but with enough assistance for bowlers. <!-- -->&#8220;It looks beautiful, some grass on the wicket and some bounce considering it is black soil,&#8221; he observed. Iyer emphasised the challenges of a demanding schedule but maintained that his side remains focused. &#8220;It is not frustration, it is an intense league\u2026 it is just another game and we will put our best foot forward.&#8221; He also confirmed changes, with Xavier and Vyshak added to the bowling attack.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"15\"\/><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"16\"\/><span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">Teams:<\/span><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"18\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"wLCOS vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"ap_Bf\">\n<div class=\"ZM4zO\">\n<p><i class=\"bo2C4\"\/> <span>Watch<\/span><\/p>\n<p> <!-- -->Bhuvneshwar Kumar on RCB loss: \u2018It was just one off day\u2019<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"20\"\/><span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">Punjab Kings (Playing XI): <\/span>Prabhsimran Singh(w), Priyansh Arya, Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer(c), Marcus Stoinis, Suryansh Shedge, Nehal Wadhera, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/player-profile\/arshdeep-singh\/67905\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Arshdeep Singh<\/a>, Yuzvendra Chahal<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"25\"\/><span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">Gujarat Titans (Playing XI): <\/span>Shubman Gill(c), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler(w), Washington Sundar, Nishant Sindhu, <!-- -->Jason Holder<!-- -->, <!-- -->Rashid Khan<!-- -->, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Manav Suthar<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"32\"\/>With Gujarat Titans currently sitting fifth and pushing hard for a playoff spot, a win today could significantly boost their position, potentially drawing them level with the teams above. However, they face a tough test against table-toppers Punjab Kings, who have been one of the most consistent sides this season despite coming off a rare defeat in their last outing. All signs point to a high-stakes and closely fought contest.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"34\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/ipl\/ipl-2026\/ipl-2026-gujarat-titans-opt-to-bowl-vs-punjab-kings-nishant-sindhu-handed-debut\/articleshow\/130733618.cms\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill (Agency Image) Gujarat Titans won the toss and elected to bowl first against Punjab Kings as the playoff race begins to heat up.Explaining the decision, skipper Shubman Gill said his side wanted to stick to what has worked recently. &#8220;We are gonna bowl first. We have been chasing well in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12481","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}