IPL 2026: RR opt to bat against KKR, know playing XIs

Rajasthan Royals (RR) won the toss and decided to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 clash which is being played at the Eden Gardens on Sunday, April 19.

What did the captains say at the toss?

RR skipper Riyan Parag after winning the toss, said:

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, they replace Pretorious and Tushar Deshpande.

Meanwhile, KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane, after losing the toss, said:

We were looking to bat as well. As I said in the last game as well, batsmen should bat with freedom. The kind of situation we are in at the moment right now, we want all the batters to bat freely, have that fearless approach. The bowling unit has been doing well. They started to do really well. The last three games, especially the middle overs and end overs they bowled really well. That was the reason we thought batting first. But happy to lose the toss. We believe the past is dead, future, we don't know what is rolling up. And now what we have at the moment is this moment. So giving our best, playing with freedom, and the focusing on controllables. Sometimes when you lose games, you try to think too many things. I feel the boys, the preparation has been fantastic. They're in good mindspace. Results can go either way. So it's all about being in this moment and playing with freedom. Same team.

Kolkata Knight Riders Playing XI

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 Dahiya, Navdeep Saini

Rajasthan Royals Playing XI

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