KKR opt to bat; Moeen and Ramandeep return
There were concerns over KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane's availability after his finger injury last game but he was fit to go
ESPNcricinfo staff
04-May-2025
Kolkata Knight Riders chose to bat vs Rajasthan Royals
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won the toss and made a few changes in their home clash against Rajasthan Royals (RR). There were concerns over KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane's availability after his finger injury last game but he was fit to go.
He said the Eden Gardens pitch looked dry and might slow down in the second half. Moeen Ali and Ramandeep Singh come in for KKR. Harshit Rana and Anukul Roy had played the last game, only one of them will be in as Impact Player. Rovman Powell has been left out as they have four overseas players in their starting XI.
Sanju Samson has not recovered fully, so Riyan Parag continues to captain RR. Parag said he was happy to lose the toss as he was unsure of what to do. They welcomed back Wanindu Hasaranga, who missed the last game with a niggle. Former KKR man Nitish Rana missed out with a niggle. Kunal Singh Rathore came in for Rana while Hasaranga replaced Kumar Kartikeya. To keep the overseas limit intact, Fazalhaq Farooqi had to make way for Yudhvir Singh. Shubham Dubey is expected to come in as the Impact Player.
There is one short boundary square of the wicket and the fine boundaries from the High Court End are short too. There is a brown, dry patch on the fuller lengths but Eoin Morgan said on broadcast it doesn't look like it would break up. The average first-innings score at Eden Gardens since 2024 is 200 for 6.
RR are already knocked out of the tournament, while KKR still have a slim chance of making it to the playoffs.
Kolkata Knight Riders 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 4 Ajinkya Rahane (capt.), 4 Venkatesh Iyer, 5 Rinku Singh, 6 Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Moeen Ali, 10 Vaibhav Arora, 11 Varun Chakravarthy
KKR Impact Player list Manish Pandey, Harshit Rana, Anukul Roy, Rovman Powell, Luvnith Sisodia
Rajasthan Royals 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Vaibhav Suryavanshi, 3 Kunal Rathore, 4 Riyan Parag (capt.), 5 Dhruv Jurel (wk), 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Yudhvir Singh, 11 Akash Madhwal
Impact Player list Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande, Kumar Kartikeya, Ashok Sharma, Kwena Maphaka