KKR became only the second team, after Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, to play 100 IPL matches at a single venue.
A win for Gujarat Titans, who are on a five-match winning streak, would make them the first team to qualify for the IPL 2026 playoffs. For KKR, a defeat would end their playoff hopes.
Before the start of the match, former KKR captain Eoin Morgan rang the bell at Eden Gardens.
After winning the toss, GT skipper Shubman Gill said the pitch looked slightly sticky because of rain around Kolkata on Friday.
“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,” Gill said at the toss.
“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 on 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,” he said.
KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane confirmed that spinner Varun Chakaravarthy returned to the playing XI after recovering from a niggle and replaced Vaibhav Arora.
“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 moisture. I don’t think it’ll change too much,” he said.
Playing XIs:
Gujarat Titans: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (captain), Jos Buttler (wk), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, and Mohammed Siraj
Impact substitutes: Rahul Tewatia, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Prasidh Krishna, and Kumar Kushagra.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green, Rinku Singh, Manish Pandey, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakravarthy, Kartik Tyagi, and Saurabh Dubey
Impact substitutes: Vaibhav Arora, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya, Rovman Powell, and Matheesha Pathirana.