The IPL broadcasters, Star Sports made a massive blunder during the toss between the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and the Punjab Kings (PBKS). Just when Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson was having a word with presenter and former Zimbabwe cricketer Mpumelelo Mbangwa during the toss, the broadcasters displayed Yuzvendra Chahal’s name as the captain.
The Men in Pink skipper Samson won the toss and elected to field first. However, one incident that grabbed eyeballs was that of a goof-up made by the broadcasters, as they displayed spinner Chahal’s name as the leader of the franchise while Sanju Samson was on the screen with Mpumelelo Mbangwa.
“Yuzvendra Chahal, Rajasthan Royals captain,” the IPL broadcasters displayed on the screen.
Shortly after the toss, Rajasthan Royals took a hilarious swipe at Star Sports for the blunder as they said the latter were not the first ones to ‘believe’ Chahal as skipper. The franchise retweeted a post from 2022, wherein Rajasthan captioned Chahal as the skipper of the franchise.
“Star Sports, you’re not the first ones,” captioned Rajasthan on Twitter.
The Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings clash keeps other IPL teams on a cliffhanger for the playoffs stage
Notably, the runners-up of the 2022 season announced four major changes during the toss as Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Joe Root and KM Asif were dropped from the setup. The skipper confirmed Ashwin was dropped as he suffered a back spasm. The think tank back Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag, Trent Boult and Navdeep Saini to feature in the XI in place of the four players dropped from the setup.
The match proves to be a crucial one not just for both teams but also for other franchises in the mix for the playoffs. Sanju Samson and Co. are placed sixth on the IPL Points Table with 12 points in 13 outings with a dismal Net Run Rate (NRR) of 0.140.
On the other hand, Punjab Kings are eighth on the ladder with 12 points in as many matches and have an NRR of -0.308. The two teams will be gunning to obtain a win by a big margin so as to sneak into the top four of the league.