{"id":9937,"date":"2026-04-28T19:47:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T14:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/ipl-2026-pbks-unleash-lockie-ferguson-as-pace-weapon-rr-opt-to-bowl-cricket-news\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T19:47:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T14:17:58","slug":"ipl-2026-pbks-unleash-lockie-ferguson-as-pace-weapon-rr-opt-to-bowl-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/ipl-2026-pbks-unleash-lockie-ferguson-as-pace-weapon-rr-opt-to-bowl-cricket-news\/","title":{"rendered":"IPL 2026: PBKS unleash Lockie Ferguson as pace weapon; RR opt to bowl | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Punjab Kings’ Lockie Ferguson during a warm-up session (ANI Photo)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

NEW DELHI: League leaders Punjab Kings handed a major boost to their bowling attack with the inclusion of Lockie Ferguson<\/a> as they took on Rajasthan Royals<\/a> in a crucial Indian Premier League<\/a> 2026 clash on Tuesday.Rajasthan skipper Riyan Parag won the toss and opted to bowl first at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, citing early moisture due to recent rain and cloud cover.<\/p>\n

Ferguson boost for unbeaten Punjab
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All eyes were on Punjab\u2019s team sheet as the hosts brought in express pacer Ferguson in place of Xavier Bartlett, signalling a clear intent to sharpen their pace attack. The New Zealand quick\u2019s raw speed is expected to play a key role, especially under conditions that could assist seamers early on.Punjab also made a forced change, with Suryansh Shedge replacing Shashank Singh in the XI.Captain Shreyas Iyer admitted he would have preferred to bowl first but remained confident in his side\u2019s adaptability. \u201cAny time you bat or bowl, it\u2019s a great challenge. All of us are proactive irrespective of the toss,\u201d he said.Speaking about consistency, Iyer added, \u201cWe have a certain goal to achieve and we know the eventual goal. Our mindset is about maintaining standards and values. It\u2019s been brilliant so far, and we need to keep the momentum going.\u201dPunjab head into the contest as the only unbeaten side this season and will be keen to consolidate their position at the top of the table.<\/p>\n

Royals look to exploit early conditions
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For Rajasthan, Parag emphasised the importance of making early inroads. \u201cThere\u2019s a little moisture at the start, so we\u2019re trying to extract that and get a few early wickets,\u201d he said.The Royals made two changes of their own, bringing in Dasun Shanaka for Shimron Hetmyer and Yash Punja in place of Ravi Bishnoi.Currently placed fourth, Rajasthan have a chance to climb higher with a win, but they face a confident Punjab unit riding a wave of momentum.With Ferguson\u2019s pace added to an already potent attack featuring Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansen, Punjab will look to make early breakthroughs and extend their dominant run in IPL 2026.<\/p>\n

PBKS vs RR<\/keyword> Playing XIs
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Punjab Kings XI:<\/span> Prabhsimran Singh(w), Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer(c), Cooper Connolly, Suryansh Shedge, Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra ChahalRajasthan Royals XI:<\/span> Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel(w), Riyan Parag(c), Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Dasun Shanaka, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma, Yash Raj Punja<\/div>\n


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Punjab Kings’ Lockie Ferguson during a warm-up session (ANI Photo) NEW DELHI: League leaders Punjab Kings handed a major boost to their bowling attack with the inclusion of Lockie Ferguson as they took on Rajasthan Royals in a crucial Indian Premier League 2026 clash on Tuesday.Rajasthan skipper Riyan Parag won the toss and opted to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9937","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\/9937","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=9937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}