Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have suffered a major setback as their trumpcard, Sunil Narine, has been ruled out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 clash against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, on Wednesday, March 26.
The two teams will be looking to bounce back after suffering comprehensive defeats in their opening fixtures. While defending champions KKR lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by seven wickets at home, Rajasthan encountered a 44-run defeat to last season’s runners-up Sunrisers Hyderabad in an away clash.
Toss Update
Ajinkya Rahane won his first toss as KKR captain and opted to bowl first. He mentioned that dew could play a key role in the fixture. The Mumbai batter said that his team would look to stay positive and live in the moment. On the other hand, RR skipper Riyan Parag said that there were a lot of positives to take from the previous game, especially the fightback shown by the middle-order batters.
Why is Sunil Narine not playing?
The legendary all-rounder showcased his all-round skills in a game where KKR were outclassed by Bengaluru. Narine scored an enterprising 44 off 26 balls and finished with figures of 1/27 in his four-over spell. However, at the toss, on Wednesday, Rahane said that the veteran is out of the team because he is unwell. Moeen Ali replaces the stalwart for this important clash.
Here’s what the captains said at the toss
Riyan Parag: Very proud, very humbled to be leading a franchise like this. I started when I was 17 years old. The management has shown faith in me, it’s something I can’t really put in words. A lot of positives from the last game. The middle-order really stepped up. A lot of positives with the ball as well. One change. Hasaranga comes in, Farooqi steps out.
Ajinkya Rahane: We’ll look to bowl first. The wicket looks really good. If we bowl first, we’ll get an idea how this wicket is. Dew factor is huge here. It’s about staying positive, this format is all about being fearless, playing with intent. We played very good cricket, T20 is all about giving your best each and every day. We are looking forward to this game. We learnt a lot from the last game. We want to stay in the moment. I don’t look at the stars that much, for me, it’s all about contributing. Sunil Narine misses out, he’s not well. Moeen Ali comes in.
Playing XIs
RR: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Sanju Samson, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Riyan Parag, 5 Dhruv Jurel, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Thushar Deshpande, 11 Sandeep Sharma
Impact Substitues: Kunal Singh Rathore, Shubham Dubey, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya, Kwena Maphaka
KKR: 1 Quinton de Kock, 2 Venkatesh Iyer, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4, Rinku Singh, 5 Moeen Ali, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Ramandeep Singh, 8 Spencer Johnson, 9 Vaibhav Arora, 10 Harshit Rana, 11 Varun Chakravarthy
Impact Substitutes: Anrich Nortje, Manish Pandey, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Luvnith Sisodia
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