Gujarat Titans (GT) won the toss and decided to bowl first against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 clash at the Eden Gardens stadium on May 16. Talking about the playing XI, GT didn't tinker with their side. Meanwhile, Rovman Powell made way for Varun Chakaravarthy in KKR's playing XI. Surprisingly, Matheesha Pathirana could feature in today's match as KKR have named him amongst their Impact substitutes.
GT have all but qualified for IPL 2026 playoffs with 16 points. However, they will look to beat KKR and get the 'Q' mark before their name. Meanwhile, it's a must win match for KKR, who have nine points in 11 matches. They can't afford to lose the match against GT, as it will only further dent their playoff hopes.
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What did the captains say at the toss?
GT captain Shubman Gill, after winning the toss, said:
"We're gonna bowl first. Yeah, it does look like that (pitch having moisture), there was a little bit of rain around yesterday and it looks a little bit sticky, we are hoping that it's going to get better in the second innings. (On GT's bowlers dominating and winning five on the trot) Yeah, definitely, we believe that, batsmen do win you matches, but if you want to win championships, your bowling unit has to be in form and luckily for us, they are firing all cylinders. Our bowling unit has been top-notch this season. The momentum is with us and we have to keep doing the things consistently that we have been doing well. This is not the stage, this is not the time to take any teams lightly, but we're hoping to win the next two and hopefully be stable in the top two positions. It gives the edge to the teams that finish in the top two. You get one extra match. Hopefully, we won't play the extra match, but it does give you an edge, you can go out there and play your game. We're going with the same team."
"Taking one game at a time. We have to win three games and see what happens. We've been playing really good cricket, the last five games. We were looking to field as well. There's a little bit of mositure. I don't think it'll change too much. Varun comes in, Varun is fit."
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI):
Ajinkya Rahane(c), Finn Allen, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Cameron Green, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakaravarthy, Saurabh Dubey, Kartik Tyagi
Kolkata Knight Riders Impact subs: Rovman Powell, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya, Matheesha Pathirana, Vaibhav Arora
Gujarat Titans (Playing XI):
Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj
Gujarat Titans Impact Subs: Prasidh Krishna, Rahul Tewatia, Anuj Rawat, Kumar Kushagra, Glenn Phillips