IPL 2025: Why is Tushar Deshpande not playing in PBKS vs RR Match 18?

Punjab Kings (PBKS) are hosting their first home game against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Match No. 18 of IPL 2025 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur on Saturday, April 5. 

Toss Update

Sanju Samson returned as the captain for Rajasthan Royals after being used as an Impact Player in their first three matches. Meanwhile, Punjab Kings' skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bowl first.

Rajasthan drop Deshpande due to niggle; bring in Yudhvir

At the toss, Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer confirmed that there were no changes in their playing XI. On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson announced one change, stating that Tushar Deshpande was ruled out due to a niggle. In his place, bowling all-rounder Yudhvir Singh Charak was brought into the side to fill the gap.

What did the captains say?

Sanju Samson, RR captain

Pretty happy to bat first and put on a decent total. I could feel what the coaches would be going through, a bit restless and helpless. But excited to be back now. It is a new team and team management, we have got to know each other now and it takes a bit of time. We are geling better now, last game we pretty much had the perfect game. We have a small niggle for Tushar Despande, so he's out for today and Yudhvir comes in for him.

Shreyas Iyer, PBKS captain

We'll bowl first. Looking at the last game, we were playing on a new wicket and we want to see how the pitch plays. Same mindset here as well. We need to stabilise the rhytmn from game one and that's happened. Important to steady the ship from here, boys are in high spirits. Need to maintain composure and calmness throughout the season. We've played the practice games here so we know how the wicket will play. We played our last two games on red soil so hopefully we can adapt early. We have the mindset of champions. Bowling first, no changes for us. Will change things around maybe with the impact sub.

Playing 11s

Rajasthan Royals

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson(c), Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel(w), Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Sandeep Sharma

Impact Substitutes: Kunal Singh Rathore, Shubham Dubey, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal

Punjab Kings

Prabhsimran Singh(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Marcus Stoinis, Nehal Wadhera, Glenn Maxwell, Shashank Singh, Suryansh Shedge, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson, Yuzvendra Chahal

Impact Substitute: Priyansh Arya, Harpreet Brar, Praveen Dubey, Vishnu Vinod, Vyshak Vijaykumar