Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won the toss and opted to bowl first against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 6th match of IPL 2026. While left-arm wrist spinner Shivang Kumar came in for SRH, KKR chose to stick with the same playing XI, banking on continuity after a positive showing in their previous outing. Both the teams lost their opening game.Rahane backs bowling unit, highlights conditions”There is always room for improvement but there were a lot of positives from the last game – batting unit wise we batted really well. As I said in the post-match presentation, bowling wise there was a bit of inexperience but they will do really well. We generally don’t see this much of grass, last couple of days rain around and that’s the reason we are bowling first. Generally there is dew but this wicket should remain good for 40 overs, not sure with the dew as there’s a breeze going around, but generally at 7:30-8 the dew comes in. He (Cam Green) is doing all the things which he needs to do, physio and our trainer are looking after him. You will see him bowling very soon. Going with the same team,” Rahane said after winning toss. SRH focus on execution after being put in to bat”I would have elected to bowl first. But getting to bat first here at Eden it comes to the same point – be sure how the wicket is going to play and watch the ball and play your best game. We need to come up with the best game show for us. It all depends on the mindset, if you feel fresh before the game, you just go out and do the basics right. Only one point I would say is execution, when you plan something and execute it in a good manner then you will be on the winning side, we need to be calm even if we are not in a very good situation and that will make the difference. We will look to keep it simple in this game. (When will Cummins be available?) I don’t know yet, but he should be ready as soon as possible, he makes a big difference, with the bat as well, keeping him in the team is such a plus point. We have one change – Shivang comes in, keeping the wicket-taking options open, he has bowled well in the practice sessions and we are giving him the chance, and I think he is going to do well,” Ishan Kishan during toss.
Impact subs and playing XIs
Sunrisers Hyderabad XI: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (wk/c), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, David PayneSunrisers Hyderabad Impact Subs: Harshal Patel, Liam Livingstone, Eshan Malinga, R Smaran, Sakib HussainKolkata Knight Riders XI: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Blessing MuzarabaniKolkata Knight Riders Impact Subs: Finn Allen, Manish Pandey, Saurabh Dubey, Rovman Powell, Tejasvi Dahiya
