Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and opted to bowl first against Mumbai Indians in Match 65 of Indian Premier League 2026 at Eden Gardens.
KKR have decided to stick with the same playing XI for the must-win fixture, showing faith in the combination that has helped them stage a remarkable comeback in the second half of the season.
MI welcomed a major boost with Hardik Pandya returning to lead the side after recovering from a back spasm that ruled him out of recent matches. Suryakumar Yadav also returns to the sidr after missing the previous clash against PBKS.
Allah Ghazanfar back into the playing XI as they look to finish their disappointing season on a strong note. Sherfane Rutherford and Shardul Thakur missed out.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakravarthy, Saurabh Dubey
Impact subs: Finn Allen, Vaibhav Arora, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya, Rahul Tripathi
Mumbai Indians: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Will Jacks, Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Raghu Sharma
Impact Subs: Shardul Thakur, Mayank Rawat, Robin Minz, Krish Bhagat, AM Ghazanfar
KKR vs MI: Captains at the toss
Ajinkya Rahane said KKR are fully aware of the equation and know they need to win both their remaining matches to stay alive in the playoff race. The skipper stressed the importance of staying in the present and repeating the all-round performance they delivered against Gujarat Titans.
“Yes, absolutely. It’s as simple as that. We just want to focus on this game. We played really good cricket overall last game against GT. As you've mentioned, we need to win two out of two, but staying in the moment, playing good cricket over the course of 40 overs, it's really important.”
Hardik Pandya said despite MI already being out of the tournament, the side remains motivated to finish strongly and uphold the franchise’s legacy. He added that every player is focused on representing Mumbai Indians in the best possible way.
“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.”
