Kolkata Knight Riders sustained a massive blow as their star all-rounder Sunil Narine failed to make it to the playing XI in the clash against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday. Star player Moeen Ali replaced Narine in KKR’s playing XI.
Stalwart West Indies all-rounder made 109 off 56 balls and picked up 2 wickets last season when both teams faced each other in Kolkata last season in the IPL. Narine was the most valuable player for the KKR, scoring 44 off 26 balls in the opening match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on March 22.
Talking about the game, KKR won the toss and elected to bowl first in Guwahati and that’s when fans came to know that Narine won’t be playing.
“We’ll look to bowl first. The wicket looks really good. If we bowl first, we’ll get an idea how this wicket is. Dew factor is huge here. It’s about staying positive, this format is all about being fearless, playing with intent. We played very good cricket, T20 is all about giving your best each and every day. We are looking forward to this game. We learnt a lot from the last game. We want to stay in the moment. I don’t look at the stars that much, for me, it’s all about contributing. Sunil Narine misses out, he’s not well. Moeen Ali comes in,” said Rahane.
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag(c), Dhruv Jurel(w), Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Rinku Singh, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Spencer Johnson, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy
Kolkata Knight Riders Impact Subs: Anrich Nortje, Manish Pandey, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Luvnith Sisodia.
Rajasthan Royals Impact Subs: Kunal Singh Rathore, Shubham Dubey, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya, Kwena Maphaka
