Why did Vijaykumar Vyshak miss PBKS vs RR clash of IPL 2026?

Vijaykumar Vyshak has played a great role in PBKS’s success in IPL 2026.

Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) are clashing at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium at New Chandigarh in the 40th game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 on Tuesday, April 28, 2026.

PBKS have been on fire, having topped the points table with 6 wins from 7 games and 13 points, while RR are in the top four with 5 wins and 3 losses from 8 games.

While PBKS came into this win with a scintillating performance against Delhi Capitals (DC), where they created a world record by chasing down 264 runs, RR failed to defend 228 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s century went in vain, as he was thumped by Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan.

Why is Vijaykumar Vyshak not playing PBKS vs RR clash of IPL 2026?

The toss happened, and RR captain Riyan Parag won the toss and chose to bowl first. Prabhsimran Singh scored 59, and Priyansh Arya scored 29 as they contributed 37 runs for the first wicket. Cooper Connolly (30) and Shreyas Iyer (30) came out to give the PBKS innings a boost.

However, when it appeared that PBKS might fall short of 200 runs, Marcus Stoinis delivered an outstanding performance. Stoinis scored 62* in 22 balls, taking Punjab’s total to 222/4 in 20 overs.

When RR came out to bat, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi got to work immediately as they thumped the Punjab bowlers. Sooryavanshi raced to 43 in 16 balls with 3 fours and 5 sixes before he was dismissed by Arshdeep Singh.

Seeing the pitch and how the conditions were, Punjab Kings opted to bring in spin in Harpreet Brar instead of more pace in Vijaykumar Vyshak.

“We would have loved to bowl first as well because I asked one of our team members; he told me that the wicket was basically covered for a couple of days due to bad weather, but other than that, I personally feel that any time you bat or bowl, it’s a great challenge, and all of us are pretty proactive irrespective of the decision of the toss. We have one forced change. So, Suryansh (Shedge) comes in for Shashank, and the other one is Lockie Ferguson, who comes in for Xavier Bartlett,” Shreyas Iyer had said at the toss when asked about the team combination.

Vyshak has been great as a support bowler for Arshdeep Singh and Xavier Bartlett, taking 6 wickets in 7 games for the Punjab Kings. However, he seemingly missed this game due to team combination and other factors.

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