IPL 2026: Shivang Kumar makes debut, KKR selects vs SRH

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won the toss and elected to bowl first in their IPL 2026 Match 6 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). While left-arm wrist spinner Shivang Kumar came in for SRH, KKR opted to stick with the same starting XI in the hope of maintaining continuity after their impressive performance in the last game. Both teams lost their first games.Rahane backs bowling team, stresses conditions“There’s always room for improvement, but there were a lot of positives from the last game – in terms of the batting unit, we hit the ball really well. As I said in my post-match speech, there’s some inexperience on the bowling side, but they’ll do well. We don’t usually see this much grass, it’s been raining the last few days, which is why we’re bowling in the first place. Generally there will be dew, but this wicket should hold up well for 40 overs, not sure if there’s dew as there’s a breeze around, but generally at 7:30-8 There is sometimes dew. He (Cam Green) is doing everything he needs to do and the physical therapists and our coaches are taking care of him. You will see him bowling soon. Go with the same team,” Rahane said after the win. SRH focuses on execution after investing in bat“I would choose to bowl first. But at Eden Gardens, batting first serves the same purpose – determine how the wicket is going to bowl, watch the ball and play your best game. We need to give us the best game program. It all comes down to mentality, if you feel fresh before the game, you go out and do the basics well. All I would say is execution, when you plan something and execute it in a good way, you are on the winning side and even if things are not going well for us we need to stay calm and that will make a difference. We’re going to try to keep it simple in this game. (When will Cummins be available?) I don’t know yet, but he should be ready soon, he can make a big difference, and with the bat, having him on the team is a plus. We had a change – Shivang came in and kept the wicket options open, he bowled well in practice and we gave him a chance and I thought he would do well,” Ishan Kishan said during the toss.

Influence substitutes and lineups

Sunrisers Hyderabad XI: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (wk/c), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, David PayneSunrisers Hyderabad shock substitutes: Harshal Patel, Liam Livingstone, Eshant Malinga, R. Smalan, Saqib HussainKolkata Knight Riders XI: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Blessing MuzarabaniKolkata Knight Riders impact on substitutes: Finn Allen, Manish Pandey, Saurabh Dubey, Roffman Powell, Tejasvi Dahiya