Punjab Kings Vs Gujarat Titans, IPL 2024: Three Key Player Battles To Watch Out For

The experienced batsman Shikhar Dhawan has suffered an injury and is expected to miss the upcoming match against the Titans. His replacement as captain, Sam Curran, has performed well, but unfortunately, the team has not been able to secure victories in their last two matches. They lost the previous game against MI by nine runs and the match before that against Rajasthan Royals by three wickets.

Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma have made a grand entrance on the biggest stage, and most of the Kings' batting relies on these two 'Smash Boys'. Harpreet Brar has delivered some excellent spin bowling so far. Liam Livingstone needs to step up his game with the bat. In the last game, Rilee Rossouw got the opportunity to play for the first time this year but failed miserably against Bumrah.

Shubman Gill's Titans need to come up with a good combination in the middle-order. David Miller, Kane Williamson, and Matthew Wade have not played any significant role in the team's victories this season. They are highly dependent on the Afghan spin duo of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad. However, apart from Mohit Sharma, none of the seamers have performed well for the Titans this year.

PBKS vs GT Full Squads:

Punjab Kings: Rilee Rossouw, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Liam Livingstone, Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Shivam Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Atharva Taide, Jonny Bairstow, Nathan Ellis, Tanay Thyagarajan, Shikhar Dhawan, Chris Woakes, Sikandar Raza, Prince Choudhary, Vishwanath Singh

Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohit Sharma, Noor Ahmad, Spencer Johnson, Sandeep Warrier, Matthew Wade, Vijay Shankar, Shahrukh Khan, Umesh Yadav, Sharath BR, Darshan Nalkande, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Manav Suthar, Kane Williamson, Jayant Yadav, Joshua Little, Kartik Tyagi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Sushant Mishra

As the eighth-ranked Gujarat Titans lock horns with the ninth-placed Punjab Kings, three key player battles are worth looking out for from the PBKS vs GT match in the IPL 2024

1. Shubman Gill vs Kagiso Rabada

Shubman Gill likes to take his time early in the innings and then play his shots. Kagiso Rabada is known to take early wickets. He has a lethal yorker and nasty bouncer in his arsenal which he can use against him. Gill can also charge against him and use his pace to make quick runs. Overall, the battle between the paceman and the young batter will be an interesting one.

2. Ashutosh Sharma vs Rashid Khan

Ashutosh Sharma has become an overnight sensation after playing a few 'impactful' innings in the ongoing IPL 2024. He displayed his batting skills against the top-quality Mumbai Indians' bowlers and almost snatched the win from their mouths. He plays with a strike rate of around 200 and can play some innovative shots. He smashed Bumrah for a sweep shot that went for six and now as he faces the best spinner in the world, Rashid Khan, it will be an interesting battle to watch out for.

3. Sai Sudharsan vs Arshdeep Singh

Sai Sudharsan likes to play textbook shots and is very pleasant to watch. The southpaw has a beautiful cover drive that he usually plays in the initial overs. On the other hand, Arshdeep Singh is skilled in bowling yorkers and slower deliveries and is usually brought in to bowl in the powerplay and death overs. Arshdeep can prove to be a threat to Sudharsan in these overs.