PBKS vs GT LIVE Score: Gujarat Titans aim to bounce back from KKR loss

Preview: Punjab Kings take on Gujarat Titans in Match 18 of IPL 2023 at the PCA Stadium in Mohali on Thursday.

These are still early stages of the competition, but the Punjab Kings will be looking to jump to the top four in IPL 2023. PBKS are currently placed sixth in the standings with four points while Gujarat Titans are in fourth spot with the same number of points, albeit a superior NRR that of PBKS.

In their last match, Gujarat Titans, the defending champions of IPL, were blown away by Rinku Singh’s heroics against KKR, as they suffered their first defeat of the season. As a result, the Titans will be hoping to get back to winning ways and regain their momentum.

GT will have to be vary of PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan, who is in good form. Dhawan has so far registered scores of 40, 86* and 99* in the three matches he has played, aggregating 225 runs at a strike rate of 149.01.

But the biggest boost for Punjab Kings yet this season is the arrival of England’s Liam Livingstone, who arrived in Mohali after a prolonged wait and took part in a training session at the nets ahead of the game.

Should Livingstone, who has not played competitive cricket since December when he injured his knee, be named in the XI, he would all but replace Matt Short in it.

Gujarat Titans themselves had missed skipper Hardik Pandya against KKR after he was unwell, but Pandya looks set to be available for the PBKS fixture.

Sai Sudharshan, meanwhile, has been a revelation for GT so far this season. He is currently leading the team’s batting charts with 137 runs from three matches, and seems to have filled that void of the injured Kane Williamson in the XI.

PBKS will also be boosted by the return of South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada, but how they fit both Rabada and Australia’s Nathan Ellis remains to be seen.

Squads:

Punjab Kings – Shikhar Dhawan (c), Shahrukh Khan, Matthew Short, Prabhsimran Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Gurnoor Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Baltej Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, and Mohit Rathe.

Gujarat Titans – Hardik Pandya (c), Shubman Gill, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Sai Sudharsan, Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Pradeep Sangwan, Darshan Nalkande, Jayant Yadav, R Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad, Dasun Shanaka, Odean Smith, KS Bharat, Shivam Mavi, Urvil Patel, Joshua Little, and Mohit Sharma.

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