In the IPL 2026 showdown at Eden Gardens, Kolkata Knight Riders’ captain Ajinkya Rahane has won the toss and opted to bowl first against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). After facing defeat in their season opener against the Mumbai Indians (MI), Rahane and his squad are keen to secure their first win in the tournament.
Similarly, the Sunrisers, led by Ishan Kishan, are also looking to bounce back after losing their initial match. The pressure is on Kishan to deliver a strong performance tonight in Kolkata.
Following the toss, Rahane shared, “We are going to bowl first. There’s always room for improvement, but we saw many positives. The pitch has some grass, and with the rain around, we felt it was better to bowl first. The dew factor could play a role, but the conditions should be good for a full 40 overs. Cam Green has been doing everything right and will bowl soon. We’re fielding the same team as before.”
On the flip side, SRH’s Ishan Kishan remarked, “We would have chosen to bowl first, but now that we’re batting, we need to adapt to the conditions. It’s essential to execute our basics well, even when situations get tough. We’ll keep things straightforward tonight. There’s one change in our lineup: Shivang is coming in to strengthen our wicket-taking options, as he has bowled impressively in practice.”
**IPL 2026: Confirmed Playing XI**
**Kolkata Knight Riders:** Ajinkya Rahane (C), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (WK), Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Blessing Muzarabani.
**Sunrisers Hyderabad:** Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (C) (WK), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, David Payne.