In the <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/cricket/article/ipl-2026-cheteshwar-pujara-hails-mohammed-shami-after-stunning-bowling-display-against-dc-23623826" rel="nofollow">IPL 2026</a> match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) captain Ajinkya Rahane has won the toss and elected to bowl first at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
KKR suffered a loss in their opening match against the Mumbai Indians (MI). Rahane and his men will be eager to register their first victory in the ongoing tournament.
On the other hand, the Sunrisers, under the leadership of Kishan, also suffered a defeat in the tournament's opening match. It will be interesting to see if Kishan manages to impress the management by securing a victory tonight in <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/cricket/article/ipl-2026-kkr-skipper-ajinkya-rahane-says-he-has-nothing-to-prove-to-naysayers-23623304" rel="nofollow">Kolkata</a>.
After winning the toss, KKR captain Rahane said, "We are going to bowl first. There is always room for improvement but there were a lot of positives. We generally don't see so much of grass, rain around and that's why we wanted to bowl first. Not sure with the dew as there's a breeze going around. It should be good for 40 overs. He (Cam Green) is doing everything he needs to do. He should bowl soon. Going with the same team".
On the other hand, SRH's skipper <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/cricket/photo/ipl-2026-ishan-kishan-80-run-knock-helps-srh-reach-201-runs-against-rcb-110351/1" rel="nofollow">Ishan Kishan</a> said, "We would have bowled first. But batting first, we have to see the ball and play accordingly. We have to come up with the best game for us. You have to go out and do the basics right. Only one point I would say is execution, we need to calm even if we are not in a very good situation. We will look to keep it simple in this game. I don't know yet, but he should be ready soon, he makes a big difference, with the bat as well. We have one change - Shivang comes in, keeping the wicket-taking options open, he has bowled well in the nets and we are giving him an opportunity".
<h2>IPL 2026, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad: Confirmed Playing XI</h2>
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (C), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (WK), Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Blessing Muzarabani.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (C) (WK), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, David Payne.

IPL 2026: KKR suffered a loss in their opening match against the Mumbai Indians (MI). Rahane and his men will be eager to register their first victory

IPL 2026: Kolkata Knight Riders win toss, opt to bowl first against Sunrisers Hyderabad

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KKR suffered a loss in their opening match against the Mumbai Indians (MI). Rahane and his men will be eager to register their first victory in the ongoing tournament

Ajinkya Rahane wins toss, elects to bowl first against Sunrisers Hyderabad

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