Kolkata Knight Riders are without Matheesha Pathirana for their crucial IPL 2026 clash against Mumbai Indians. The Sri Lankan fast bowler, who made his debut for KKR against Gujarat Titans, walked off after bowling only eight deliveries following discomfort in his calf. The same injury had troubled him during the T20 World Cup 2026.
As a result, Pathirana is unavailable for the match against Mumbai, with Rovman Powell coming into the side as his replacement. KKR, however, received a boost with Varun Chakaravarthy returning to the XI after missing the previous games against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Gujarat Titans.
KKR opt to field
Kolkata have won the toss and elected to bowl first at the Eden Gardens. The surface is pretty sluggish as it was under the covers for a while due to rain. The hosts want to capitalise on that and hence, their spinners are expected to play a major role tonight.ย
Mumbai, on the other hand, have made three changes to the playing XI. Captain Hardik Pandya returned after being out with a back spasm, while Suryakumar Yadav also got back to the squad after a parental break. They have also brought in spinner Allah Ghazanfar as part of a strategic change.ย
Meanwhile, Pandya noted that he would have opted to bowl first as well and hoped that Mumbai would finish well in the season.ย
โWe would have bowled first as well. Looks like a track which has been under the covers. Just wanted to see how exactly it plays out. (Playing for pride) Absolutely. Every game you play, you want to win. You want to play your best cricket, put the best foot forward. At the same point of time, Mumbai Indians have a long history of winning titles. So just want to make sure that we keep the head high and make sure that we represent Mumbai Indians in the best capacity,โ Pandya said.ย
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Ryan Rickelton, Rohit Sharma (wk), Naman Dhir, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Will Jacks, Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Raghu Sharma
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane (c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Saurabh Dubey
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