In the last league match from IPL 2026, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane has decided to bowl first after winning the toss. Delhi Capitals will come out to bat first in the Eden Gardens ground. Delhi has made two changes in its playing eleven. Although Delhi is already out of the playoff race, KKR still has hope. If Rajasthan loses its last league match, then KKR will have to win this match in 12.1 overs to qualify for the playoffs.

After the toss, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane said, “We will bowl first. It is very simple. We know what will happen based on what happened in the previous innings, what is happening now, but despite that, we do not know what the result will be. The wicket also looks very good. So yes, it is very simple. There is still a game of cricket left, and the last six matches have been great for us. We still want to compete and want to win this match. As I said, whenever you play cricket, you always try to win, especially because it takes courage, determination and positive attitude to come back from the situation we were in. IPL is a fun tournament with 24-25 players, to keep that spirit going every time. Is.”

After the toss, Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel said, “We would have liked to bowl first. We will see how we can improve next season. I don’t think we played bad cricket, but we could not capitalize on the opportunities which could have changed the outcome of the match. We have to learn these things and move forward. We have made two changes in the team today.”

Playing XI of Delhi Capitals- Abhishek Porel, KL Rahul (wk), Sahil Parakh, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Axar Patel (c), Ashutosh Sharma, Madhav Tiwari, Aaqib Nabi Dar, Mitchell Starc, Lungi Ngidi.

Playing XI of Kolkata Knight Riders- Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Manish Pandey, Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya (wicketkeeper), Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Saurabh Dubey, Varun Chakraborty, Kartik Tyagi.

Gujarat Titans won the toss and chose to bowl first. Captain Shubhman Gill said that their aim is to play the first qualifier by finishing in the top-2 and there is no change in their playing eleven. On the other hand, KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane made it clear that there is no margin for error left for him. The good news for Kolkata is that Varun Chakraborty has returned to the playing eleven.

Varun Chakraborty’s return

Every match is do or die for Kolkata Knight Riders. Varun Chakraborty could not play in the last match due to ill health. But Chakraborty has made a comeback in the match against Gujarat Titans. Chakraborty has taken 10 wickets in 8 matches so far. Chakraborty is not in the Purple Cap race, but has done the job of stopping runs very well.

Playing XI of Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Finn Allen, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wicketkeeper), Cameron Green, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakraborty, Saurabh Dubey, Kartik Tyagi.

Playing XI of Gujarat Titans: Sai Sudarshan, Shubman Gill (captain), Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ravishrinivasan Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj

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Kolkata needs victory at any cost

Today’s match is most important for Kolkata Knight Riders. Its playoff equation is clear, if it wins today, its playoff hopes will remain alive and if it loses, KKR team will be eliminated today. Let us tell you that Kolkata team has won four out of the last 5 matches. On the other hand, if Gujarat Titans wins today, they will get a ticket for the playoffs.

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KKR vs PBKS Match Prediction: There are ups and downs in the points table of IPL 2026. Major changes have been seen in the points table after almost every match. Today there will be a clash between Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders. Under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer, Punjab can go to the top of the table by scoring a hat-trick of wins today, on the other hand, KKR is looking for its first win.

Punjab Kings have so far defeated Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings in 2 matches, both of them are former IPL champion teams. At the same time, the condition of Kolkata is very bad, which has become the victim of big defeat at the hands of Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Know here, with which playing eleven both the teams can take the field today and what will be the condition of the pitch.

Who will win today, understand from the statistics

In the history of IPL, the teams of Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings have come face to face 35 times. Kolkata is far ahead in overall head to head record, as it has defeated Punjab 21 times, whereas Punjab Kings has been able to win only 13 matches. There was no result in one of their matches.

Today’s match will be played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The record of Punjab Kings on this ground has been very bad. Here both the teams have clashed 14 times, out of which KKR has won 9 times and Punjab has won only 4 times. One of their matches was lost due to rain.

It is also worth noting that ever since Shreyas Iyer joined Punjab Kings, he has played only one match as captain against KKR, which did not yield any result. Considering the current form, Shreyas Iyer’s mind games will be a new challenge for Kolkata Knight Riders.

How will the pitch be?

Especially in IPL, the pitch of Eden Gardens is considered a boon for the batsmen. The chasing record here in T20 matches is very good, so today the team winning the toss can choose to bowl first. Only one match has been played on this ground in IPL 2026, in which Sunrisers Hyderabad had scored 226 runs on the scoreboard. This is the same ground where Punjab Kings chased the record of 262 against Kolkata in 2024. Today a high-scoring match can be seen between Punjab and Kolkata.

KKR’s probable playing eleven: Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane, Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakraborty, Vaibhav Arora, Blessing Muzarabani.

Probable playing eleven of PBKS: Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer, Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Shashank Singh, Marco Janssen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vishak, Arshdeep Singh

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Only a few hours are left for the start of IPL 2026. The first match of the season will be played between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad on 28 March. On one hand, CSK and Mumbai Indians will be eyeing their respective sixth titles, while RCB would like to be among the teams that have become champions twice in a row. Lucknow Super Giants, Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings are the teams which will enter the field with the intention of winning the trophy for the first time. But the success of any team will depend on a good playing eleven combination. See here with which playing eleven all the 10 teams can take the field.

Probable playing eleven of all 10 teams in IPL 2026

Chennai Super Kings- Ayush Mhatre, Sanju Samson, Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Dewald Brewis, Shivam Dubey, Karthik Sharma, Prashant Veer, MS Dhoni, Noor Ahmed, Akeal Hosein, Khaleel Ahmed

Punjab Kings- Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Marcus Stoinis, Shashank Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vaishak, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Mumbai Indians- Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock (wk), Will Jacques, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya (c), Naman Dheer, Sherfane Rutherford, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah.

Rajasthan Royals- Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Riyan Parag (captain), Shimron Hetmyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Dasun Shanaka, Joffra Archer, Nandre Berger, Sandeep Sharma, Vignesh Puthur.

Kolkata Knight Riders- Finn Allen, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Cameron Green, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Blessing Muzarabani, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakraborty, Kartik Tyagi.

Royal Challengers Bangalore- Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (captain), Jacob Batchelor, Tim David, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Rasikh Dar.

Lucknow Super Giants- Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant (captain), Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Digvesh Rathi, Avesh Khan, Mayank Yadav, Anrich Nortje.

Gujarat Titans- Shubman Gill, Sai Sudarshan, Jos Buttler, Kumar Kushagra, Glenn Phillips, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada.

Delhi Capitals- KL Rahul, Abhishek Porel, Pathum Nissanka, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Axar Patel, Vipraj Nigam, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Lungi Ngidi, Aaqib Nabi Dar

Sunrisers Hyderabad- Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Liam Livingstone, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Aniket Verma, Harsh Dubey, Jaydev Unadkat, Harshal Patel, Zeeshan Ansari

Even before the start of IPL 2026, there will be a worrying atmosphere in the camp of Kolkata Knight Riders, because fast bowlers are getting injured one after the other. Harshit Rana and Akashdeep have been out of the entire season due to injury, on the other hand, Mathisha Pathirana will not be able to play in the first few matches, hence Kolkata’s fast bowling department has faded.

Still, apart from captain Ajinkya Rahane, veteran spinner Sunil Narine, Varun Chakraborty, young enthusiasm is also present in the squad of 3-time champion KKR in the form of Angkrish Raghuvanshi. Cameron Green will also be the topic of discussion, on whom Kolkata Knight Riders spent Rs 25.2 crore in the auction. Know here how the playing eleven of Kolkata Knight Riders could look like without the 3 main fast bowlers.

KKR’s best playing eleven
This time, all eyes will be on New Zealand’s stormy batsman Finn Allen, who is coming after scoring the fastest century in the history of T20 World Cup. He scored a century in 33 balls. Captain Ajinkya Rahane can take the responsibility of opening with him, who scored 390 runs in IPL 2025 playing at a strike rate of around 148. Young batsman Angkrish Raghuvanshi has confirmed the number-3 position and has performed strongly in the last two seasons.

Australian all-rounder Cameron Green can come at number-4 and he can also bowl medium pace. In the absence of Harshit, Akashdeep and Pathirana, Green will have to take the responsibility of bowling. Here Rinku Singh will have to play the role of batting boldly in the middle overs rather than as a finisher. Rovman Powell and Ramandeep Singh will also have additional responsibility, like Cameron Green, they may have to bowl 2-3 overs in the innings.

There will be a lot of pressure on Sunil Narine and Varun Chakraborty as both of them will be the senior bowlers of the team. This season can give a breakthrough to Vaibhav Arora, who has taken 36 wickets in his IPL career, because he can emerge as the main fast bowler of the team. The same thing can be said for Karthik Tyagi, who may get a chance to play the entire season this time. If he gets a chance, he will have to capitalize on every opportunity.

KKR’s probable playing eleven: Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Ramandeep Singh, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora and Kartik Tyagi.

Rcb vs kkr playing 11 prediction: The IPL 2025 is yet to be 17 matches, the rest of the tournament is going to start from May 17. After the suspension, the first match in IPL 2025 will be played between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders. On one side the RCB points are second in the table and KKR in sixth place. In this match to be held in Bengaluru, know how the condition of the Pitch of Chinnaswamy Stadium will be, know how the playing XI of both teams can look like the weather.

Pitch report

The team has scored more than 200 scores at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in IPL 2025. High-scoring matches have often been seen here. Batsmen may dominate Bangalore and Kolkata matches, but the new ball can help the bowlers. The first batting team on this ground has been victorious on 43 times and 53 occasions.

Weather report

This match of RCB and KKR will be played in Bangalore, where the possibility of rain is expressed on 17 May. Lightning in the sky can be strong in the evening and night and the match can be stopped several times due to rain. In the match, there may be black clouds in the field throughout the time, due to which the possibility of cancellation of the match is also very high.

Match prediction

So far 35 matches have been played between RCB and KKR in the history of the Indian Premier League, out of which 20 times Kolkata and 15 times the Bengaluru team has won. At the same time, the KKR team has won 8 times in the 12 matches played between the two at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The amazing thing is that RCB has never won the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Chinnaswamy Stadium after 2016. Statistics are testifying to a great extent that Kolkata may once again dominate Bengaluru.

RCB’s possible playing eleven: Virat Kohli, Phil Salat, Rajat Patidar (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romio Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Lungi Engidi, Yash Dayal.

KKR’s possible playing XI: Rehmanullah Gurbaz, Sunil Naren, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Enrique Nortje, Varun Chakraborty

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