Punjab Kings will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala in the 61st match of the ongoing IPL 2026 on Sunday. This will be the first day-game at the picturesque venue and it would be interesting to note how the pitch would play.
Meanwhile, Punjab Kings have lost their last five matches on the trot and they have drifted away from the playoffs race at this crucial juncture of the tournament. Thus, Shreyas Iyer’s team needs to win their next two games to confirm their last four berth.
PBKS did well to post a par score of 200 runs on the board in the previous game against Mumbai Indians but their bowling let them down. The Mohali-based franchise had their noses in front when MI needed 50 runs off the last three overs but their bowlers could not hit the right areas.
On the other hand, RCB were able to chase down 193 against Kolkata Knight Riders after veteran batter Virat Kohli scored a magnificent knock of 105 runs off 60 balls. RCB might look to add Suyash Sharma into their bowling attack against PBKS after the leg-spinner was dropped in the last game.
Jacob Bethell and Jitesh Sharma have failed to grab their chances so far and it would be imperative that they contribute to the team’s success.
Head to Head: Matches: 37, Won by RCB: 19, Won by PBKS: 18.
Punjab Kings Squad: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh(w), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer(c), Marcus Stoinis, Suryansh Shedge, Shashank Singh, Marco Jansen, Ben Dwarshuis, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harpreet Brar, Yash Thakur, Xavier Bartlett, Vishnu Vinod, Praveen Dubey, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Lockie Ferguson, Azmatullah Omarzai, Nehal Wadhera, Mitchell Owen, Harnoor Singh, Musheer Khan, Pyla Avinash, Vishal Nishad
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad: Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Venkatesh Iyer, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam Dar, Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, Vicky Ostwal, Jacob Duffy, Swapnil Singh, Philip Salt, Nuwan Thushara, Vihaan Malhotra, Abhinandan Singh, Kanishk Chouhan, Satvik Deswal
