Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain Rishabh Pant won the toss and elected to bowl first against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), handing a debut this season to left-arm spinner George Linde in Match 38 of IPL 2026 at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Linde replaces M Siddharth in the only change for LSG, while KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane named an unchanged playing XI.
Both sides enter the contest under pressure, looking to revive faltering campaigns. LSG have managed just two wins in seven matches and sit ninth on the points table, while KKR are rooted to the bottom with a solitary victory from as many games.
Explaining the decision at the toss, Pant said the team wants to challenge their batting unit by chasing. “We want to put the opposition under pressure first and find answers as a batting group. We are working towards it, and we believe we are close to turning things around. It’s about sticking together and staying confident,” he said.
Rahane echoed a similar sentiment, expressing belief in his side despite the results. “We are close to finding the right combination. The confidence is there, and we know we can turn it around from here,” he said.
Playing XIs:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Tim Seifert (wk), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Kartik Tyagi, Vaibhav Arora
Lucknow Super Giants: Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran, Mukul Choudhary, George Linde, Digvesh Rathi, Mohammed Shami, Prince Yadav, Mohsin Khan