Why did Shashank Singh and Lockie Ferguson miss GT vs PBKS clash of IPL 2026?
Lockie Ferguson featured in the previous game against RR, while Shashank Singh was absent.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Gujarat Titans (GT) are squaring off in the 45th match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. The encounter is underway on May 3 (Sunday) at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
GT captain Shubman Gill won the toss and opted to field first in the clash. At the toss, he informed that they have made one change to their playing XI, handing Nishant Sindhu a debut.
On the other hand, Punjab Kings made two changes to their playing XI. Xavier Bartlett and Vijaykumar Vyshak were added with Vyshak being named as one of the impact players in the match.
Interestingly, PBKS did not include pacer Lockie Ferguson and batter Shashank Singh in their playing XI. While Ferguson was picked in the previous game against the Rajasthan Royals (RR), Shashank last played in the clash against Delhi Capitals (DC) on April 25.
Why are Lockie Ferguson and Shashank Singh not part of GT vs PBKS match?
Notably, Punjab have replaced Ferguson with Xavier in the bowling department. Ferguson missed the initial phase due to personal reasons and played his first game against Rajasthan Royals.
However, he emerged too expensive, leaking 57 runs in his four-over spell and remaining wicketless. Punjab also lost the encounter. It might be the reason for Ferguson’s ouster from the GT clash.
Speaking about Shashank, he sustained a hamstring injury in the clash against Delhi Capitals and is under rehabilitation. He is yet to be match-fit.
Speaking about playing XI at the toss, Iyer said, “Yes, X (Xavier Bartlett) comes in and Vyshak comes in as well in the bowling side. But apart from that, I feel that it’s not frustration, it’s just that you have learning in every game. And it’s an intense league, honestly speaking”.
“We travel, we have to come up fresh for the next game. So it takes a lot of efforts in the practice session as well. It’s just that we haven’t been able to execute the way we were supposed to, but it’s just another game right now and we will see to it that we put our best foot forward and execute to the best of our abilities,” he added.
Punjab Kings’ Playing XI vs GT: Prabhsimran Singh (WK), Priyansh Arya, Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (C), Marcus Stoinis, Suryansh Shedge, Nehal Wadhera, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Why did Lockie Ferguson miss GT vs PBKS clash?
Lockie Ferguson has been dropped for the match and replaced by Xavier Bartlett.
Why did Shashank Singh miss PBKS’ clash against GT?
Shashank is recovering from a hamstring injury.
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Vikas Singh Derek is a core cricket-lover since childhood and has always followed the sport both in his personal and professional life. He started his school life by watching cricket at home with family. Later, he played cricket on the field at local clubs during college. After his Master's in Journalism from Mumbai, he followed his passion by covering cricket news across various digital media. Since 2015, he has been an aspiring sports journalist and cricket content writer with over 50K+ articles.