Table of Contents
LSG captain Rishabh Pant won the toss and elected to bowl first against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens in Match 15 of IPL 2026 on Thursday. KKR, still searching for their first win of the season after two defeats and a washout, will bat first on what is expected to be a high-scoring track.
The clear weather forecast is a relief after the previous Eden Gardens fixture was washed out, and Pant will be hoping Mohammed Shami. who produced a staggering 2 for 9 including 18 dot balls against SRH, can wreak early havoc against a KKR top order that has struggled for consistency.
KKR vs LSG: Why Varun Chakravarthy and Blessinng Muzarabani are both missing
Two of KKR's most talked-about bowlers from the early stages of the tournament are both absent from tonight's XI for very different reasons.
Varun Chakravarthy, who injured the little finger on his left hand while fielding against SRH, has been in and out of training with the injury and despite bowling his full set at Wednesday's session he has not been cleared to play.
Ajinkya Rahane confirmed at the toss that Varun Chakravarthy is still recovering from the hand injury, a significant blow given that the world's number one ranked T20I bowler has not yet made a meaningful impact this season, going wicketless at an economy of 13.17 in the two games he has played.
Blessing Muzarabani, who has been one of KKR's few genuine bright spots with five wickets at an economy of 8.14 including a four-wicket haul against SRH, makes way for the returning Sunil Narine. Rahane confirmed it is a straight swap, Narine comes in for Blessing Muzarabani, with the Zimbabwe pacer unfortunate to lose his place despite being KKR's most effective bowler by some distance this season.
"Just one change - Sunil comes in place of Blessing Muzarabani, Varun Chakravarthy is still recovering from his hand injury. When he (Green) is allowed to bowl,we will probably see him, the combination gets better, so Rovman Powell plays, when Cam Green bowls then we have that extra bowler with us." Rahane said.
The big news: Narine back and Green bowling for KKR vs LSG game
The two genuinely exciting developments from the KKR camp tonight are the return of Sunil Narine following his abdominal illness and the long-awaited confirmation that Cameron Green has been cleared to bowl.
Narine batted and bowled across the two training days before this fixture and his return transforms KKR's bowling options entirel, Monday against Punjab Kings was the first time since IPL 2019 that KKR had played without specialist spinners in their XI and it showed.
Green's availability with the ball is the other massive story. After weeks of workload management in consultation with Cricket Australia that restricted him to batting duties only, the INR 25.20 crore all-rounder finally has the green light to contribute with the ball, the role KKR specifically bought him to fill and the one whose absence triggered Rahane's now-famous "ask Cricket Australia" comment at the post-match presentation against MI.
Also READ: KKR vs LSG Playing XIs: Sunil Narine returns as Lucknow Super Giants opt to bowl at Eden Gardens
KKR vs LSG: Playing XIs and what to expect
KKR: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Finn Allen, Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Navdeep Saini, Kartik Tyagi.
LSG: Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant (c/wk), Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Manimaran Siddharth, Avesh Khan, Mohammed Shami, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Prince Yadav.
KKR's XI tonight looks considerably more balanced than anything they have put out so far this season. Narine anchoring the spin attack, Green finally bowling, Rovman Powell adding power in the middle order and the promising Angkrish Raghuvanshi continuing his fine early-season form.
For LSG, Shami is the primary threat, his record at Eden Gardens, his domestic home ground, is exceptional and if he finds early movement against KKR's openers this could be a very difficult evening for Rahane's side at the top of the order.
