Punjab win toss, opt to bowl against Bengaluru in IPL final

AHMEDABAD, India: Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to field against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL final on Tuesday.

A win for Bengaluru will end a title drought for its star and cricket icon Virat Kohli with hundreds of his fans filling the world’s biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.

The 132,000-capacity stadium is expected to be packed with a large number of supporters already in the stands wearing the number 18 jersey of Kohli in Bengaluru colours.

A Bollywood-style song and dance ceremony enthralled the audience ahead of the toss with the T20 tournament set to crown a new winner in its 17-year history.

Bengaluru, led by Rajat Patidar, come in unchanged from their previous win when they beat Punjab in the first playoff to book their fourth IPL final.

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Punjab beat five-time champions Mumbai Indians in the last playoff – a knockout – to make their second final and kept the winning combination for the decider.

The 18th edition of the world’s richest cricket league is ending nine days late due to a pause because of a military conflict between India and Pakistan.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarwal, Rajat Patidar (capt), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood.

Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Josh Inglis (wk), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Azmatullah Omarzai, Kyle Jamieson, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Umpires: Jayaraman Madanagopal (IND), Nitin Menon (IND)

TV Umpire: Chris Gaffaney (NZL)

Match Referee: Javagal Srinath (IND)