Why are Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy Not Playing in KKR vs PBKS IPL 2026 Match Today?

Kolkata Knight Riders will take on Punjab Kings at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in a crucial IPL 2026 match on Monday (April 6).

The Knight Riders come into the match with two defeats in a row and are in desperate need of a victory to get their season back on track.

KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane won the Toss and elected to Bat first. And then he confirmed that they will miss two of their key players for this encounter, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy.

"We are going to bat first. Looks a good wicket, little bit on the drier side but it's a very good wicket and slightly less covering of grass as well. It's all about having that belief and confidence. It's about winning those small moments. We are confident. Two changes, forced," Rahane said.

KKR vs PBKS: Why are Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy not Playing Today?

Sunil Narine is reportedly sick and is not part of the match today. He has been replaced by West Indies all-rounder Rovman Powell. On the other hand, Varun Chakravarthy got injured while taking a catch in the last match, and has been replaced by Navdeep Saini, who makes his debut for KKR.

KKR vs PBKS Playing 11

KKR: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Finn Allen, Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Rovman Powell, Vaibhav Arora, Navdeep Saini, Kartik Tyagi

Impact Players - Manish Pandey/Tejasvi Dahiya/Rahul Tripathi/Saurabh Dubey/Blessing Muzarabani

PBKS: Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal

Impact Players - Suryansh Shedge/Vishnu Vinod/Praveen Dubey/Priyansh Arya/Harpreet Brar