Kolkata Knight Riders have made only one change to their playing XI against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Australia pacer Spencer Johnson has been dropped as Moeen Ali has replaced him. The former England international played against Rajasthan and picked up two wickets in the match.
Kolkata Knight Riders have made only one change to their playing XI against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2025. Former England international Moeen Ali has come back to the playing XI as he replaced Spencer Johnson in the middle. The all-rounder featured against Rajasthan Royals and picked up two wickets for 23 runs in his four overs. He was highly impactful but failed to retain his spot for the match against Mumbai Indians as Sunil Narine returned to the XI.
Captain Ajinkya Rahane didn’t explain the reason behind bringing back Moeen but it is understandable that the surface will assist the spinners and KKR have made a strategic decision. Meanwhile, Rahane added that he was happy with the Eden Gardens pitch, which was under scrutiny for a week. However, the veteran reminded that playing according to the condition will be vital for the team.
“Looks good, I’m really happy with the pitch, we were also bowling first. It will suit our spinners, at home, you should get what you want, but we’ll need to assess the situation quickly with the bat. We sat together (after the last match), discussed how we can get better, but this is a long tournament and it was one bad day. Moeen Ali comes in place of Spencer Johnson. Regardless of all plans, we’ll have to come out and do well in the middle.,” Rahane said after the toss.
Meanwhile, Sunrisers have won the toss and elected to ball first. They have handed the debut cap to Kamindu Mendis.
Teams:
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock (wk), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ramandeep Singh
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Aniket Verma, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Kamindu Mendis, Simarjeet Singh, Pat Cummins (c), Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami, Zeeshan Ansari
