Guwahati, Mar 26: Veteran all-rounder Moeen Ali comes into the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) playing eleven as captain Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and elected to bowl first against Rajasthan Royals in Match 6 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

Both KKR, the defending champions, and RR are coming into this clash after suffering defeat in their respective opening games of the tournament. Moeen, the former England off-spin bowling all-rounder, comes in for Sunil Narine, who is unwell and won’t be playing the game for KKR.

“The wicket looks really good. If we bowl first, we'll get an idea of 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,” said Rahane after winning the toss.

Rajasthan Royals skipper Riyan Parag got huge cheers from his home crowd and was humbled by the reception offered to him. He said RR have made one change too, with leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga coming for left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi. “Very proud, very humbled (to be leading RR). The middle-order really stepped up. A lot of positives with the ball as well,” said Parag.

Playing XIs:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Quinton de Kock (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Rinku Singh, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Spencer Johnson, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana and Varun Chakaravarthy

Impact Substitutes: Anrich Nortje, Manish Pandey, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy and Luvnith Sisodia

Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag (captain), Dhruv Jurel(w), Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande, and Sandeep Sharma

Impact Substitutes: Kunal Singh Rathore, Shubham Dubey, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya Singh and Kwena Maphaka

(IANS)

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