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The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will face off against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Match 21 of the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday, April 8. The first game of the double-header will be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
In their last home outing, the Knight Riders beat the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in a repeat of last year's final. The defending champions aren't too happy with the kind of pitches they've been given at home, but they'll have to make do with whatever the curator dishes out. Given that they're on the back of a win, changes don't seem forthcoming even if the conditions are slightly different.
KKR's squad for IPL 2025: Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodia, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Varun Chakaravarthy, Mayank Markande, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Anrich Nortje, Spencer Johnson, Chetan Sakariya.
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On that note, here is KKR's predicted playing XI, along with a couple of impact player options, for Match 21 of IPL 2025.
Openers: Quinton de Kock (wk) and Sunil Narine
Both Quinton de Kock and Sunil Narine haven't lived up to their billing in IPL 2025. While De Kock has one Player of the Match award to his name, he has failed on all other occasions and has a dreadful record at the Eden Gardens. Narine, meanwhile, has looked a shadow of the batter who made more than 450 runs last year. The duo will need to come to the party on Tuesday.
Middle Order: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh
Captain Ajinkya Rahane has been in good nick, while Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh made valuable contributions in KKR's previous game against SRH. Andre Russell and Ramandeep Singh haven't had much to do with the bat, but they remain key cogs in the Kolkata side.
The Knight Riders opted to field a third spinner in Moeen Ali ahead of fast bowler Spencer Johnson. While that puts the onus on Russell to be the third pacer and on the spinners to bowl at the death if needed, the hosts are likely to continue with the same strategy given the left-handers in the LSG ranks.
Lower Order: Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora
Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora have been part of the KKR pace attack in IPL 2025 and will have key roles to play in Johnson's potential absence. Anrich Nortje could also continue warming the bench as he reaches full fitness.
Varun Chakaravarthy, as expected, will lead the spin attack.
Impact Player Options - Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Chetan Sakariya
The in-form Angkrish Raghuvanshi will be KKR's impact player if they have to chase. There's an outside chance that they'll bring in Chetan Sakariya for one of the batters and beef up their pace attack, but chances of this happening are low.
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