NEW DELHI: In search of their first win of the IPL 2026 season, Kolkata Knight Riders opted to bat first against Shreyas Iyer’s Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Monday.KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and elected to bat first at the Eden Gardens.KKR made two changes to their playing eleven and neither of their two mystery spinners, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, made the squad.
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Devdutt Padikkal press conference: Chinnaswamy’s pitch, Tim David’s strength and RCB’s batting strategy “We’re going to bat first. It looks like a good wicket, a bit of a drier side, but it’s a very good wicket and a bit less grass cover too. It’s all about that belief and confidence. It’s about winning the little moments. We’re confident. Two changes, forced. Varun Chakaravarthy was injured taking a catch in the last game,” Powell and Narine said in the last match. to throwMeanwhile, PBKS went with the same team.“Should have bowled as well. Kind of happy with the decision he made. Our (Shreyas and Ponting) chemistry has blossomed since our Delhi Capitals days. He gives freedom to all youngsters and is an inspiration himself. Same team for us,” said PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer. TeamsPunjab Kings (Playing XI): Prabhsimran Singh (w), Shreyas Iyer (c), Cooper Connolly, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, 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.Impact on subscriber listPunjab Kings Impact Subs: Priyansh Arya, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Pravin Dubey, Harpreet BrarKolkata Knight Riders Impact Subs: Blessing Muzarabani, Manish Pandey, Tejasvi Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Saurabh Dubey
