Riyan Parag-led Rajasthan Royals is competing against Ajinkya Rahane's Kolkata Knight Riders in match 6 of the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, which is taking place at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati, on March 26 (Wednesday). However, KKR suffered a big blow right before the match as their star all-rounder and opening batter Sunil Narine will be missing out on the clash against RR.
Sunil Narine misses out game vs RR
Ajinkya Rahane won the toss for KKR and elected to bowl first. During the toss, he informed that Sunil Narine will be unavailable for this game as he is not well. This is a big blow to KKR because Narine was their top performer with both bat and ball in the opening game against RCB.
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
"Very proud, very humbled to be leading a franchise like this. I started when I was 17 years old. The management has shown faith in me, it's something I can't really put in words. A lot of positives from the last game. The middle-order really stepped up. A lot of positives with the ball as well. One change. Hasaranga comes in, Farooqi steps out," said Riyan Parag
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