Why are Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Mukesh Kumar not playing KKR vs DC today at Eden Gardens?

Kolkata Knight Riders entered their final IPL 2026 league match against Delhi Capitals still clinging to a difficult playoff equation, but they had to do it without their most consistent batter of the season.

Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and chose to bowl first at Eden Gardens, saying KKR knew the scenario and wanted to finish strongly regardless of what happened in the MI vs RR game. KKR stayed unchanged from their previous match, with Tejasvi Dahiya retaining his place after coming in as a concussion substitute last time out. The big absence, of course, was Angkrish Raghuvanshi.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi ruled out with concussion and finger fracture

Angkrish Raghuvanshi is not playing KKR vs DC because he has been ruled out of the remainder of IPL 2026 with a concussion and a fractured finger on his left hand.

The injury happened during KKR's previous match against Mumbai Indians on May 20. In the 11th over of MI’s innings, Tilak Varma top-edged a slog-sweep off Varun Chakravarthy. Both Varun and Raghuvanshi went for the catch, but there was a breakdown in communication and the two collided heavily.

Raghuvanshi took a serious blow, felt concussion symptoms and also suffered a finger fracture. He had to leave the field, with Tejasvi Dahiya coming in as the concussion substitute. Dahiya has now retained his place in KKR’s XI against Delhi Capitals.

Because of concussion protocols and the finger injury, Raghuvanshi’s IPL 2026 season is over.

Mukesh Kumar misses out as DC shuffle bowling combination

Mukesh Kumar is not part of Delhi Capitals’ starting XI against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens because of a tactical call rather than any injury concern. The right-arm pacer has had a difficult IPL 2026, moving in and out of the side as DC searched for the right bowling balance.

In 10 matches this season, Mukesh has taken six wickets at an average of 31.33, but his economy rate of 11.27 has hurt his case, especially on batting-friendly surfaces. His best figures of 2/26 came against Mumbai Indians, but he has not been able to consistently control the scoring rate.

For this game, Axar Patel and the DC management have gone with a different combination featuring Mitchell Starc, Lungi Ngidi and Auqib Nabi, while Mukesh has been pushed out of the starting XI as Delhi look to test options in their final outing of the season.

IPL 2026: Massive blow for KKR's batting balance

Raghuvanshi's absence is a major setback because he has been KKR's best batter this season. In 13 matches, he scored 422 runs at an average of 42.20 and a strike rate of 146.53, with five half-centuries.

He had settled beautifully into the No. 3 role and gave KKR stability in a season where their campaign had swung wildly. His unbeaten 82 against Gujarat Titans was one of his standout knocks, and he became the player KKR often relied on to hold the innings together.

His injury creates two problems at once. KKR lose their top run-scorer, and they also lose the player who had been handling wicketkeeping duties. That is why Dahiya's role is important tonight.

KKR still chasing IPL 2026 Playoff miracle

KKR’s match against DC is not a normal final league game. They need Mumbai Indians to beat Rajasthan Royals first, and then they must beat Delhi by a huge margin to overtake Punjab Kings on Net Run Rate.

At the toss, Rahane said, 'We will bowl first. We know the scenario and the wicket looks nice and good. There is a game of cricket to be played and the last six games we have done. Want to do well here. I'm really proud of my team.'

Delhi Capitals are already eliminated, and Axar Patel said they would have bowled first too. 'We will see how we can do better the next season,' he said.

Also READ: Why Rajasthan Royals are favourites ahead of Punjab Kings and KKR in IPL 2026 playoff race?

IPL 2026: KKR vs DC Playing XIs

Delhi Capitals: Abishek Porel, KL Rahul (wk), Sahil Parakh, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Axar Patel (c), Ashutosh Sharma, Madhav Tiwari, Auqib Nabi, Mitchell Starc, Lungi Ngidi.

Impact options: Vijay, Sameer Rizvi, Vipraj Nigam, Nitish Rana, Kuldeep Yadav.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Tejasvi Dahiya, Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakravarthy, Saurabh Dubey, Kartik Tyagi.

Impact options: Finn Allen, Ranjan, Vaibhav Arora, Ramandeep Singh, Rahul Tripathi.