There is still a light drizzle that is persisting.
Covers Coming off in Eden Gardens
Rain has halted play in Kolkata and the covers are out.
Bartlett is on a roll and that’s a second one gone down. Cameron Green Departs.
Bartlett has the first wicket. The swing has done the trick. Finn Allen edges one back.
Arshdeep is getting some swing but KKR have been able to get some boundaries here. A quick start from the home team.
Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to bat first against Punjab Kings in their IPL 2026 clash, with captain Ajinkya Rahane backing his side to put runs on the board on what appears to be a batting-friendly surface.
Toss and team news
Rahane revealed that KKR were forced into two changes:
- Varun Chakravarthy misses out due to injury
- Sunil Narine is unavailable due to illness
They are replaced by Rovman Powell and Navdeep Saini.
“Looks like a good wicket, slightly on the drier side with less grass. We want to put runs on the board first,” Rahane said.
Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer confirmed that Punjab Kings are unchanged and expressed confidence in the team’s direction under coach Ricky Ponting.
“Our chemistry goes back to our Delhi Capitals days. He gives freedom to players, and working with him is a phenomenal feeling,” Iyer said.
Playing XIs
Punjab Kings XI:
Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Cooper Connolly, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Kolkata Knight Riders XI:
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 substitutes
Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Pravin Dubey, Harpreet Brar
Kolkata Knight Riders: Blessing Muzarabani, Manish Pandey, Tejasvi Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Saurabh Dubey
Pitch and weather report
Despite rain clouds hovering, conditions are expected to favour batters. The pitch has a healthy grass covering, ensuring consistent bounce and pace. While there are a few bare patches, they are unlikely to significantly impact play.
