Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ajinkya Rahane (Image credit: BCCI/IPL) NEW DELHI: Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings players were seen wearing black armbands during their IPL 2026 clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and opted to field against the five-time champions.Rahane made one change to the playing XI, bringing in Varun Chakaravarthy in place of Navdeep Saini.“We’ll look at the bowling first. I think the last game was really good for us. Unfortunately, the result didn’t go our way. But I thought the kind of cricket we played, the guys get such confidence from the last game. It’s all about starting again. It’s important when things don’t go your way, it’s important to have that belief, stay positive and have these little, little moments, it’s really important to start now in T20, so now it’s important to start in this game forward.” with the ball and then look to chase down the goal (in the last game) Yes, it was definitely fantastic.
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Varun Aaron on Praful Hinge’s dream IPL debut and team’s fearless approach “It’s important for us to put the hard yards out there, focus on controllable as players and have that belief in each individual. Like I said, the combination looked really good for us in the last game. So yeah, we thought about this game and we wanted to be in this moment. (after the mega auction it’s tough) I mean, it’s tough, after the mega auction it’s tough to go through injuries for the players to find the right balance. only one change is good for us. He came in for Navdeep Saini,” he added.ČSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad named an unchanged playing eleven.“Yes we would have bowled first as well. But like I said the wicket here hasn’t changed too much over the course of the game. So not much of a difference. It would definitely be a challenge to put a big total on the scoreboard in the first innings but like I said it looks like a really good surface. (in the last game) Yeah like I said even in the 21st game I felt good, defending against 21 was good. a strong DC side gave us a lot of confidence and you know even the field unit was loaded,” Gaikwad said.“We saved a couple of runs and so I think we’ve done really well collectively. It’s really exciting today as well. We’ve got work to do and everybody’s feeling confident. (talking about the team balance) Yeah, I think we’re slowly getting it right. Brevis is coming back and Jamie’s making key turns in between. So I think we’re slowly, slowly getting the right combination and it’s just about being consistent every game and it’s just about each served.
Why did KKR wear black armbands vs CSK?
KKR players wore black armbands to mourn the death of former Indian cricketer CD Gopinath, a member of India’s first-ever Test-winning team and an early part of the country’s journey in international cricket.Gopinath represented India in eight Tests between 1951 and 1960 and made an immediate impact on debut with scores of 50 not out and 42 against England.At a time when Indian cricket was still emerging globally, he was part of the team that secured the country’s first Test win against England in 1952 at Madras (now Chennai) – a landmark in India’s cricketing history.At the domestic level, Gopinath was a key figure in Madras cricket, leading the side and contributing significantly to its growth. He enjoyed a distinguished first-class career, scoring 4,259 runs in 60 matches and playing a key role in Madras’ first Ranji Trophy triumph in 1954-55, scoring a century in the final.After his retirement, he served as national selector – including chairman – and later as manager of the Indian team during the 1979 tour of England. He remained closely associated with the game for decades and was widely respected for his deep understanding of cricket and his unassuming presence.
