Why is Varun Chakaravarthy not playing for KKR vs LSG at Eden Gardens in IPL 2026?
Kolkata Knight Riders will be without Varun Chakaravarthy against Lucknow Super Giants as he continues to recover from a finger injury sustained earlier. With him sidelined, Sunil Narine and Anukul Roy are set to handle the team’s spin duties.
Kolkata Knight Riders will miss the service of Varun Chakaravarthy in the clash against Lucknow Super Giants at the Eden Gardens. The star spinner suffered a finger injury while completing a catch against Hyderabad and has been out of action since. He was also not available for the match against Punjab Kings, which was called off due to rain.
“Varun is still recovering from his hand injury,” Rahane said after the toss. In his absence, Sunil Narine and Anukul Roy will have to lead the spin department.
LSG opt to field first
Lucknow have won the toss and elected to field first. Explaining the reason behind the move, captain Rishabh Pant explained that he wants the bowlers to put pressure on the KKR batters and chase it later on.
“I think [we are] looking to bowl first. We want to put opposition at the back. Like I said before, we trust our bowlers enough that they might do a good job for us,” Pant said.
KKR, on the other hand, have dropped Blessing Muzarabani from the playing XI. Sunil Narine made his return, while Rovman Powell retained his spot.
The hosts, in the meantime, had a poor showing so far with the bat. Reflecting upon that, Rahane highlighted the importance of watching the ball and executing well, rather than putting pressure on himself.
“We just want to, as a batting unit, watch the ball and react, rather than putting pressure on ourselves, trying to focus on a certain target and then try to achieve that. I think just being in the moment, try to react and watch the ball,” Rahane said.
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane (c), Finn Allen, Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Navdeep Saini, Kartik Tyagi
Lucknow Super Giants (Playing XI): Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant (wk/c), Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Manimaran Siddharth, Avesh Khan, Mohammed Shami, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Prince Yadav
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