Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and chose to bowl first against Delhi Capitals in their IPL 2026 match at Arun Jaitley Stadium, citing the need to assess the tricky wicket and play good cricket.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won the toss and opted to bowl first against Delhi Capitals (DC) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 match on Friday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane said after winning the toss that the team chose to bowl first, emphasising the importance of assessing the pitch conditions and adapting accordingly. He added that the wicket is difficult to read, so the side needs to focus on playing good cricket. Rahane also noted that the team's break helped improve morale and that the players are in good form.
"We will bowl first. In the last three games, it's important to see the wicket and play accordingly. It's difficult to read the wicket; we have to play good cricket. When we had a break, the mood was great and the players were doing well," Rahane said at the toss presentations.
Playoff Battle Intensifies
Delhi Capitals started their Indian Premier League 2026 campaign well but have since hit a rough patch, losing four of their last five games. With the playoff battle intensifying, they go into today's match in a must-win situation, currently sitting seventh on the points table with four victories from 10 matches.
Kolkata Knight Riders are also placed precariously, despite winning their last three games. They are eighth on the points table and will be aiming to continue their winning momentum to steady their campaign and climb the standings.
DC vs KKR Playing 11s
Delhi Capitals: Pathum Nissanka, KL Rahul(w), Nitish Rana, Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel(c), Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Lungi Ngidi, Mukesh Kumar.
DC Impact Sub options: Kuldeep Yadav, Karun Nair, Abhishek Porel, T Natarajan, David Miller
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane(c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Kartik Tyagi, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy.
KKR Impact Sub options: Finn Allen, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Singh, Navdeep Saini, Tim Seifert.
(ANI)
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