Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Searching for their first win of the IPL 2026 season, Kolkata Knight Riders opted to bat first against Shreyas Iyer‘s Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Monday.KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and decided to bat first at Eden Gardens.KKR made two changes in their playing XI, and neither of their two mystery spinners, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, made it to the team. “We are going to bat first. Looks like a good wicket, a little bit of the drier side, but it’s a very good wicket and slightly less covering of grass as well. It’s all about having that belief and confidence. It’s about winning those small moments. We are confident. Two changes, forced. Varun Chakaravarthy got injured taking the catch in the last game and Narine isn’t playing. Powell and Saini are in,” Rahane said at the toss.Meanwhile, PBKS went with the same team.“I was supposed to bowl as well. So kind of happy with the decision he took. Our (Shreyas and Ponting) chemistry blossomed from our Delhi Capitals days. He gives freedom to all the youngsters and he is an inspiration himself. Same team for us,” PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer said. TeamsPunjab Kings (Playing XI): Prabhsimran Singh(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Cooper Connolly, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra ChahalKolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Navdeep Saini, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik TyagiImpact subs listPunjab Kings Impact subs: Priyansh Arya, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Pravin Dubey, Harpreet BrarKolkata Knight Riders Impact subs: Blessing Muzarabani, Manish Pandey, Tejasvi Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Saurabh Dubey
