IPL 2026: RR win toss, opt to bat first against winless KKR

Rajasthan Royals won the toss and chose to bat against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens. Captain Riyan Parag cited a dry pitch, aiming to set the tone early. Shimron Hetmyer and Brijesh Sharma have returned to the RR playing 11.

Rajasthan Royals opt to bat first

Rajasthan Royals (RR) won the toss and opted to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 match on Sunday at the Eden Gardens. After winning the toss, RR captain Riyan Parag said they will bat first on what to him looks like a dry pitch that may offer some turn initially and stay similar throughout the match. He emphasised setting the tone early, learning from their previous game, and improving performance. He also confirmed that Shimron Hetmyer and Brijesh Sharma have returned to the playing 11. "We're batting first. Looks like a pretty dry wicket; the grass was cut yesterday. It could turn in the first innings and remain the same later on. Let's set the tone at the start: our focus is on doing better, last match was a learning phase, we need to take it into the games. hetmyer and Brijesh are back."

The Knights are still in search of their first win in IPL 2026 and are the only team yet to register a victory this season. They have lost five of their six matches, with one game ending in a no-result due to rain. They head into this fixture after a five-wicket loss to the Gujarat Titans.

The Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, will be aiming to bounce back after their first defeat of the season, which came against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their previous match. They are currently placed third in the standings, with four wins and one loss so far.

RR vs KKR IPL 2026 playing 11s

Rajasthan Royals

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel(w), Riyan Parag(c), Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi.

Rajasthan Royals Impact Subs: Sandeep Sharma, Shubham Dubey, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Ravi Singh, Yash Punja

Kolkata Knight Riders

Ajinkya Rahane(c), Tim Seifert(w), Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakaravarthy.

Kolkata Knight Riders Impact Subs: Manish Pandey, Finn Allen, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Tejasvi Singh, Navdeep Saini. (ANI)

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