Punjab Kings will start their campaign in IPL 2025 against Gujarat Titans. The performance of both these teams was not good last season. Gujarat has been the winner of the 2022 season, but the Punjab franchise has never won the IPL title. Punjab will come down with a new captain this time and will try to make a winning start.

Shreyas was made captain.
Punjab had made Shreyas Iyer the captain of the team under whose leadership Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won the title last season. This time Shreyas will have the challenge of making Punjab the winner. Shreyas is counted among the successful captains in the IPL. Before leading KKR to the title, he led the Delhi Capitals to the finals in the 2020 season under his captaincy, but the team could not become the winner at that time. Now his goal will be to end Punjab's 18-year-long wait to win the IPL title.

Punjab looking for first title
Punjab is one of those franchises that have not been able to win the trophy even after coming close. Punjab reached the semi-finals of IPL 2018, while it made it to the finals in 2014. At that time KKR defeated it in the final, but in the last four years, the Punjab team has not been able to make it to the top five. Despite becoming Punjab Kings from Kings XI Punjab, this team is still waiting for its first IPL title.

Gujarat will have to learn from past mistakes.

On the other hand, the last season was not good for Indian ODI team vice-captain Shubman Gill as the captain of Gujarat and the team finished eighth in the points table. Gujarat won the title in 2022 under the captaincy of Hardik Pandya and was runner-up in 2023. But last Gujarat changed its captain and handed over the responsibility to Gill.

There will be a battle between Gill and Iyer.
This match will see a battle between Gill and Iyer, who were recently part of the Indian team for the Champions Trophy. Both the batsmen are in great form. While Iyer scored the highest 243 runs for India in the tournament, Gill scored a century in the first match against Bangladesh and made important contributions in the future as well. Now both the players will be against each other.

Gill-Butler will start
Gujarat has an ideal opening pair in the form of Gill and England's Jos Buttler. The middle order will be led by West Indies' Sherfane Rutherford, Sai Sudarshan, and Masood Shahrukh Khan, while all-rounders Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Glenn Phillips, Washington Sundar, and Mahipal Lomror are expected to contribute. In bowling, Mohammad Siraj would like to make his mark. The fast bowling department includes good bowlers like Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, South Africa's Gerald Coetze, and experienced Ishant Sharma to support him. Rashid Khan will again take charge of Gujarat's spin department.

Shreyas-Maxwell will be responsible.

Talking about Punjab's batting, its batting will mainly depend on captain Iyer, Josh Inglis, Prabhsimran Singh, Marcus Stoinis, and Glenn Maxwell. Punjab's team has all-rounders like Azmatullah Umarzai, Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Shashank Singh, and Mushir Khan. Punjab's fast bowling department will be led by Arshdeep Singh. Apart from him, Punjab's fast bowling department includes Lockie Ferguson, Kuldeep Sen, and Yash Thakur, while leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar will take charge of the spin department.

The probable playing 11 of both the teams for this match is as follows...

Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (captain), Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Sai Sudarshan, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tewatia, Washington Sundar, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Siraj, Sai Kishore, Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna.

Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh, Josh Inglis (wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer (captain), Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Marco Jansen, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.

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