IPL 2024: Bairstow in, Starc out as PBKS elect to bowl first against KKR

Kolkata, April 26: Punjab Kings’ stand-in captain Sam Curran won the toss and elected to bowl first against Kolkata Knight Riders in Match 42 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Eden Gardens on Friday.

KKR are in second place in the points table with 10 points coming in via five wins from seven matches. PBKS, on the other hand, are languishing in ninth place with four points and are on a four-match losing streak.

After winning the toss, Curran said wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow had come into the playing eleven in place of Liam Livingstone. “We had four games at home, unfortunately, lost all four, guys are ready for the away games though. We know what we need to do from here, just go out and play,” he said.

KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer said left-arm fast-bowler Mitchell Starc is out due to a cut on his finger in the last game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and is replaced by right-arm pacer Dushmantha Chameera in the playing eleven.

“We've had different players stepping up at different times, whatever the situation under pressure, and they're giving their best, that's the thing I'm pleased about this season. Need a great start and then convert it into a big score, hoping to continue the same form and momentum.”

Playing XIs:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Philip Salt (wk), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Dushmantha Chameera, Varun Chakaravarthy and Harshit Rana

Substitutes: Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Vaibhav Arora and Rahmanullah Gurbaz

Punjab Kings: Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran (c), Rilee Rossouw, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar and Arshdeep Singh

Substitutes: Prabhsimran Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh and Prince Choudhary