Punjab Kings handed a debut to the Big Bash League (BBL) sensation Mitch Owen in scorching Jaipur after winning the toss against the Rajasthan Royals on Sunday, May 18. Owen, who slammed a 39-ball century for the Hobart Hurricanes in the final of BBL 14 while chasing a massive score, has become an apple of the eye on the franchise circuit, getting gigs in the SA20, PSL and now finally in the IPL. Owen had replaced Glenn Maxwell in the Punjab Kings' squad, but was to join after completing his formatlies in the PSL with Peshawar Zalmi.
With Josh Inglis, Marcus Stoinis and Aaron Hardie unavailable as of yet, Punjab Kings had to move their order around a bit with Owen batting at No 3. However, it wasn't an auspicious debut for Owen, who was dismissed for a second-ball duck as he decided to have a go pretty early against the left-armer Kwena Maphaka and ended up hitting straight up in the air towards RR skipper Sanju Samson.
For Royals, fit Samson returned to the line-up while Maphaka replaced Jofra Archer in the XI and Tushar Deshpande also made a return to the side.
Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bat while saying that he wanted to stick to the tried and tested method for his side and with the sun baking down, didn't want his bowlers to feel the heat, while Samson wanted to bowl first. The Royals are already out of the race, while the Kings will get one step closer to a Q against their name.
Playing XIs
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Sanju Samson(w/c), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Kwena Maphaka, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Madhwal, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Impact Subs: Kumar Kartikeya, Shubham Dubey, Ashok Sharma, Kunal Singh Rathore, Yudhvir Singh Charak
Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Mitchell Owen, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Impact Subs: Vijaykumar Vyshak, Harpreet Brar, Praveen Dubey, Suryansh Shedge, Musheer Khan