Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won the toss and elected to bat first against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the Eden Gardens. Home team KKR took many bold decisions for this important match.
To take on IPL 2025 season runners-up PBKS, who have also been in good form in the current season, the Knight Riders left out Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy from their playing combination. Chakravarthy has been struggling with his form since the Super 8 stage of the T20 World Cup 2026.
Why are Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine not playing against PBKS today?
KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane said that Varun is out of the match because he got injured in the last match. Keeping Sunil Narine on the bench is a big decision taken by KKR. Rahane told that Narine is not fit for tonight’s match. In place of these two spinners, Navdeep Saini and Rovman Powell have joined the playing eleven.
“Two changes, forced. Varun Chakraborty Injured while taking a catch in the last game, and Narayan Is ill. powell And Saini I am in,” Rahane said.
For the last few seasons, the spin pair of Sunil and Varun has been the mainstay of the team. With a wide skill set, he has led the team to many victories on several occasions.
According to statistics, Kolkata Knight Riders are playing their first match after 2020 without Sunil Narine or Varun Chakraborty in the playing eleven.
After winning the toss, Ajinkya Rahane informed that the surface looks good, with less grass on top, and is a little dry. But overall it looks like this
KKR vs PBKS Playing XI
punjab kings (Playing XI): Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Shreyas Iyer (captain), Cooper Connolly, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Johnson, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vishak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (C), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (W), Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Navdeep Saini, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi.
More to follow…
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