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The absence of star player Sunil Narine from the match in Guwahati is a major setback for the Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of their matchup with the Rajasthan Royals. On Wednesday, March 26, Moeen Ali will make his debut for the reigning champions, replacing Narine. When the two clubs faced each other in the IPL last season in Kolkata, the West Indies all-rounder took two wickets and scored 109 off 56 balls. In the season-opening game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on March 22, Narine scored 44 runs off 26 balls.
When was the last time Narine missed an IPL game?
Narine has not missed a KKR game in four years until now. The last time Narine missed an IPL game was when KKR played RCB in Chennai in 2021. Having taken 181 wickets and scored 1578 runs, he is the most seasoned player for KKR. He has a strike-rate of 165.93.
He first scored 44 off 26 and was the Knights' second-highest run-scorer. Later, when RCB batters dominated the KKR's bowling line-up, Narine was the only bowler to have an economy below 7 and also took one wicket. He will be missed by the defending champions in this game. Moeen Ali has replaced Narine in the playing XI. He received his KKR debut cap from Dwayne Bravo.
"We'll look to bowl first. The wicket looks really good. If we bowl first, we'll get an idea how this wicket is. Dew factor is huge here. It's about staying positive, this format is all about being fearless, playing with intent. We played very good cricket, T20 is all about giving your best each and every day. We are looking forward to this game. We learnt a lot from the last game. We want to stay in the moment. I don't look at the stars that much, for me, it's all about contributing. Sunil Narine misses out, he's not well. Moeen Ali comes in," said Rahane after winning the toss
RR vs KKR Playing XIs
Kolkata Knight Riders: Quinton de Kock(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Rinku Singh, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Spencer Johnson, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag(c), Dhruv Jurel(w), Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma
