Gujarat Titans skipper Shubman Gill won the toss and elected to bowl first against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens, expecting a surface that would feel “sticky” early before easing out to better batting conditions.
Key takeaways
- Gill chose to field first at Eden Gardens, anticipating early grip and improved batting later.
- Gujarat named the same XI that defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday, a run that extended their streak to five straight wins.
- KKR welcomed back Varun Chakravarthy after a toe injury, later diagnosed as a small hairline fracture.
- Matheesha Pathirana could make his season debut, beginning on the Impact Player bench.
- Vaibhav Arora, another regular in KKR’s setup, also starts from the bench for this match.
- KKR are playing their 100th Eden Gardens encounter, currently placed eighth with three home games remaining.
Team news and tournament context
Gujarat, who can lock in a playoffs berth with a win, stuck with an unchanged lineup from the side that beat Sunrisers Hyderabad earlier in the week. That victory marked their fifth successive win.
For Kolkata, Varun Chakravarthy returned to the XI after missing the previous two matches due to a toe issue. The injury has since been confirmed as a small hairline fracture, clearing the way for his inclusion.
There is also a possibility that Matheesha Pathirana could feature in his first appearance of the season. He is listed on the Impact Player bench, with only three overseas players in Kolkata’s starting group. Vaibhav Arora—typically a regular in the XI—has likewise been named among the Impact Player options.
Playing XIs at Eden Gardens
Kolkata, marking their 100th match at Eden Gardens, have three fixtures left and all of them are scheduled at home. They currently sit in eighth place and will need to win each of their remaining games to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Finn Allen, 2 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 3 Cameron Green, 4 Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), 5 Manish Pandey, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Sunil Narine, 8 Anukul Roy, 9 Varun Chakravarthy, 10 Saurabh Dubey, 11 Kartik Tyagi
Impact Player bench: Vaibhav Arora, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya, Rovman Powell, Matheesha Pathirana.
Gujarat Titans: 1 Shubman Gill (capt), 2 B Sai Sudharsan, 3 Jos Buttler (wk), 4 Washington Sundar, 5 Jason Holder, 6 Nishant Sindhu, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 Arshad Khan, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 R Sai Kishore, 11 Mohammed Siraj
Impact Player bench: Rahul Tewatia, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Prasidh Krishna, Kumar Kushagra.
