IPL 2023: RCB win toss, elect to bowl first against KKR

Kolkata: Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bowl first against Kolkata Knight Riders in an IPL 2023 match at Eden Gardens, here on Thursday.

The match, which Kolkata are playing a home game for the first time after 2019, also marks Sunil Narine’s 150th IPL game, with Andre Russell completing a century of appearances in the tournament.

Kolkata come into their first home game of IPL 2023 on the back of a seven-run loss to Punjab Kings in a rain-hit game, while Bangalore arrive after beating Mumbai Indians by eight wickets.

After winning the toss, Du Plessis said England’s left-arm pace all-rounder David Willey came in for Reece Topley, who suffered a right shoulder dislocation while fielding.

“There was dew last night. Hoping it will get skiddy in the second innings. Reaching the playoffs is a long way away. Today is a completely new game. Really motivated to put in a good performance,” he said.

Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Nitish Rana said leg-spinner Suyash Sharma makes his debut, with him being slotted in the substitutes, and could be brought in when the two-time champions are in their bowling innings.

“Was looking to bowl as well because of the dew factor,” said Rana.

Playing XIs:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Mandeep Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wicketkeeper), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (captain), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy

Substitutes: Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Narayan Jagadeesan, David Wiese

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (captain), Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Glenn Maxwell, Michael Bracewell, Shahbaz Ahmed, David Willey, Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj

Substitutes: Finn Allen, Sonu Yadav, Mahipal Lomror, Suyash S Prabhudessai, Anuj Rawat