The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won’t have the services of their two best bowlers, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy, against the Punjab Kings (PBKS). Yet to win a match in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, KKR were eager to register themselves on the board.
No Narine or Chakaravarthy for KKR
However, that won’t be easy now. KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane revealed that Narine is out sick and can’t play. He has been replaced by another West Indian, Rovman Powell. As for out-of-form Chakaravarthy, he injured himself while taking Abhishek Sharma’s catch. That’s why KKR had added fast bowler Navdeep Saini to the starting team.
“Two forced changes. Varun Chakaravarthy, unfortunately, got injured taking a catch in the last game, and Sunil Narine is sick. Powell and Saini are in,” Rahane said after winning the toss.
KKR will miss Narine dearly, since he’s the only bowler who stands up against the batters for Kolkata. But Chakaravarthy missing out can be a blessing in disguise for both KKR and the spinner. The 34-year-old has been in woeful form since the back end of February and was taken for 31 runs in 2 overs in the last game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Some downtime might do him good. It might help to reset mentally. Since the pitch has been under covers due to the weather, we can expect some help for fast bowlers, which means Saini can be more useful than Chakaravarthy at the Eden Gardens for the PBKS match.
KKR Playing XI vs PBKS
Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Navdeep Saini, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi
Impact subs: Blessing Muzarabani, Manish Pandey, Tejasvi Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Saurabh Dubey
