As the excitement builds for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) starting March 28, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have embraced their new assistant coach, Shane Watson, with open arms. Head coach Abhishek Nayar expressed his enthusiasm during a heartfelt welcome, saying, “While everyone is familiar with Shane as a player, I’ve had the privilege to know him beyond that. I’m truly delighted, Watto, to have you on board. Even in our brief interactions, your presence has already made a positive impact.”
He encouraged the team to leverage Watson’s extensive experience, stating, “We’ve had several great coaches, but I’m confident Shane will bring invaluable insights to our squad. Welcome to the KKR family, Watto!”
The tournament is set to kick off with a match between the defending champions, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the iconic M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Earlier, Santosh Menon, Secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association, announced that the venue will host five of RCB’s home games in IPL 2026, alongside a playoff match and the grand finale.
KKR will launch their campaign against Mumbai Indians (MI) on March 29 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, marking an exciting start to this year’s tournament. Here’s a look at the full squads:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (C), Manish Pandey, Sunil Narine, Rahul Tripathi, Tim Seifert (WK), Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sarthak Ranjan, Finn Allen (WK), Rachin Ravindra, Cameron Green, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kartik Tyagi, Blessing Muzarabani, Akash Deep, Prashant Solanki, Matheesha Pathirana, Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Harshit Rana, Tejasvi Singh (WK), Daksh Kamra.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Trent Boult, Suryakumar Yadav, Quinton de Kock (WK), Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Corbin Bosch, Hardik Pandya (C), Jasprit Bumrah, Ryan Rickelton (WK), Will Jacks, Mayank Rawat, Mayank Markande, Sherfane Rutherford, Raghu Sharma, Atharva Ankolekar, Tilak Varma, Ashwani Kumar, Raj Bawa, Danish Malewar, Robin Minz (WK), Allah Ghazanfar, Naman Dhir, Mohammed Salahuddin Izhar.