SRH vs PBKS: Punjab Kings become the first team in IPL history to play with only one overseas player

The Punjab Kings have scripted history in the Indian Premier League as they have become the first team to feature only one overseas player in their playing XI. 

Punjab are currently playing their 14th and final IPL 2024 league game in an away fixture against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Though the North-Indian outfit doesn't have much to play for in this game, they can still spoil Hyderabad's party by denying them the opportunity to finish in the top 2. 

Failure to finish in the top 4 will mean that the Sunrisers Hyderabad will only have one chance to reach the IPL 2024 final in case they lose a match. The top 2 teams in the table get a direct entry to the final by winning the 1st Qualifier while the loser of the match awaits the winner of the Eliminator between the 3rd and 4th placed team to take them into the 2nd Qualifying match.

Punjab Kings start well despite only one overseas player in the team

The Punjab Kings have started positively in their final league game of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Due to the absence of captain Sam Curran, who left for England earlier this week along with Jonny Bairstow, Jitesh Sharma took over the leadership role.

Curran and Bairstow left the Punjab camp to attend their national team training for their upcoming 5-match T20I series against Pakistan. Jitesh Sharma then won the toss and elected to bat first in a decent-looking pitch for batting.

The Kings had got off to a wonderful start, thanks to Atharva Taide and Prabhsimran Singh's opening stand of 97 runs. Taide was extremely impressive with the knock he played which included 5 fours and 2 sixes at a strike rate of 170.37. He was given his marching orders by T. Natarajan for a score of 46 off 27. 

Taide was replaced by Punjab's only overseas player today which is South Africa's Rilee Rossouw. He has settled in perfectly with Prabhsimran who is looking very likely to score a century today.

The duo have already added 150 runs on the board and they will be looking to make sure they make full use. However, Prabhsimran left the crease after scoring an emphatic 71 runs off 45 deliveries at a strike rate of 157.78. 

Shashank Singh has replaced Prabhsimran and the former is another batsman who is capable of taking on the bowlers. He can pair with Rilee Rossouw and try to post a huge total to make the Sunrisers batters work hard to chase down the target.   

He has played similar knocks this season and has dragged Punjab from losing situations to win a particular match. He had most recently played a crucial role in the team becoming the IPL team to have chased down history's biggest total against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens.  

Punjab Kings becomes the first-ever team in IPL to play only one overseas player in a game#IPL2024 #SRHvPBKS

— CricTracker (@Cricketracker) May 19, 2024