First-time Kolkata Knight Riders captain Nitish Rana has won the toss and elected to bowl first against Punjab Kings in the second match of IPL 2023 at the IS Bindra PCA Stadium, here on Saturday.
After winning the toss, Rana said Tim Southee, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Rahmanullah Gurbaz are the four foreign players in Kolkata's playing eleven. "It has rained in the last two days so there would be some moisture. I am excited because very few people get this opportunity (of captaining an IPL team)."
"It is a game of cricket so there is not much pressure. The impact players rule is in its initial stage. We have to see that the decisions we take prove to be right."
Punjab Kings skipper Shikhar Dhawan said he wanted to bowl first as well. He named Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Nathan Ellis and Sam Curran as his overseas players in the eleven, while forgetting the name of the fourth player, who is Sikandar Raza.
"We have got a balanced side, so hopefully we will do good. The team preparation has been good and we will look to dominate the game, hoping for a great season ahead. We are eager to win the trophy and I am looking to lead from the front."
Playing XIs
Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Prabhsimran Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Shahrukh Khan, Nathan Ellis, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar and Arshdeep Singh
Substitutes: Rishi Dhawan, Atharva Taide, Matthew Short, Harpreet Bhatia, Mohit Rathee
Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wicketkeeper), Mandeep Singh, Nitish Rana (captain), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Anukul Roy, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy
Substitutes: Suyash Sharma, Vaibhav Arora, N Jagadeesan, Venkatesh Iyer and David Wiese