Why Is Sunil Narine Not Playing For KKR In Today's IPL 2025 Match Vs RR?
Sunil Narine will miss KKR's IPL 2025 match against RR due to illness. Moeen Ali replaces him. RR includes Wanindu Hasaranga for Fazalhaq Farooqi. Rahane and Parag lead.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)‘s legendary spinner Sunil Narine will miss his first match for the franchise in years on Wednesday against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in IPL 2025 at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane opted to bowl first at the toss and confirmed that the Narine was ‘unwell’.
It is a big blow for the franchise. Narine has been taking at least one wicket in every match since the start of the last season, while also scored his first IPL century against RR the last time these sides played against each other. Moeen Ali, who has retired from all formats and averages 25.51 with the ball in the IPL has replaced him.
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“We’ll bowl first. The wicket looks really good. If we bowl first, we’ll get an idea how this wicket is," Rahane said at the toss, as quoted by Cricbuzz. “Dew factor is huge here. It’s about staying positive, this format is all about being fearless, playing with intent. We played very good cricket, T20 is all about giving your best each and every day. We are looking forward to this game. We learnt a lot from the last game. We want to stay in the moment. I don’t look at the stars that much, for me, it’s all about contributing. Sunil Narine misses out, he’s not well. Moeen Ali comes in."
KKR Playing 11: Quinton de Kock (WK), Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane (C), Rinku Singh, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Spencer Johnson, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana and Varun Chakaravarthy
Impact players: Anrich Nortje, Manish Pandey, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy and Luvnith Sisodia.
Rajasthan Royals’ also included a spinner in their team — Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga in the place of pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi. Hasaranga will not only add an extra aggressive middle-overs option with the ball but will also increase the team’s batting depth.
“Very proud, very humbled to be leading a franchise like this," skipper Riyan Parag who was leading in his first match in his home town. “I started when I was 17 years old. The management has shown faith in me, it’s something I can’t really put in words. A lot of positives from the last game. The middle-order really stepped up. A lot of positives with the ball as well. One change. Hasaranga comes in, Farooqi steps out."
Rajasthan Royals Playing 11: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag(c), Dhruv Jurel(w), Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande and Sandeep Sharma
Impact players: Kunal Singh Rathore, Shubham Dubey, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya, Kwena Maphaka.
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