Sam Curran won the crucial toss as Punjab Kings elected to bowl first against Kolkata Knight Riders in the 42nd match of the IPL 2024 on Friday. In a major change to their playing eleven, Kolkata dropped their premier pacer Mitchell Starc and replaced him with Dushmantha Chameera.
Starc, who cost INR 24.75 crore, missed out on Kolkata's starting eleven due to a finger niggle. Chammera joined the Kolkata camp as a replacement for Gus Atkinson and is set to play his first game of the season.
Captain Shreyas Iyer revealed that the Australian star got a cut on his finger during Kolkata's last game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
"What's pleased me the most this season is that every individual has done well and performed," Shreyas Iyer said after losing the toss. "Whatever the situation under pressure, and they're giving their best. Starcy got a cut on his finger in the last game and Dushmantha Chameera comes in. We want to continue the same form and momentum."
Despite KKR's position in the standings, Starc has struggled to justify his record salary with just six wickets in seven innings at an economy rate of 11.45.
Meanwhile, Punjab Kings also made major changes to their starting eleven with Jonny Bairstow replacing English star Liam Livingstone. Spinner Rahul Chahar also made the playing eleven forcing out Prabhsimran Singh to impact substitutes list.
Kolkata Knight Riders Playing XI: Philip Salt (wk), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Dushmantha Chameera, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana.
Punjab Kings Playing XI: Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran (c), Rilee Rossouw, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh.
Punjab Kings Impact Subs: Prabhsimran Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, Prince Choudhary.
Kolkata Knight Riders Subs: Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Vaibhav Arora, Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
