IPL 2025: Shepherd replaces Livingstone as RCB opt to bowl first against PBKS

New Chandigarh, April 20 (IANS) Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar has won the toss and elected to bowl first against Punjab Kings at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh.

RCB, who lost to Punjab Kings by five wickets in Bengaluru on Friday, made one change as Romario Shepherd came in for Liam Livingstone.

"We're going to bowl first. Wicket looks decent, won't change much. Batting second will give more clarity about the game and the wicket. We're not looking at venues, just trying to play good cricket. Shepherd comes in for Livi," Patidar said at the toss.

On the other hand, Shreyas Iyer backed their winning combination and made no change for the home clash.

"We also wanted to bowl. At the end of the day you always have to adapt according to the situation. Important to give ourselves some time, see how the ball is moving. It's the first afternoon game for us. Hopefully, we get a good total on the board. The support we got, especially in the last game in this stadium, was outstanding. Same team," said Iyer.

Playing XIs-

Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer(c), Josh Inglis(w), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Impact Substitutes: Harpreet Brar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Suryansh Shedge, Glenn Maxwell, Praveen Dubey.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal.

Impact Substitutes: Devdutt Padikkal, Rasikh Dar Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh.

--IANS

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