The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will lock horns with the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Match 15 of the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL). The clash will take place at the Eden Gardens on Thursday, April 9.

KKR’s previous clash against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) was washed out, and the threat of rain lingers over this one as well. There are also concerns over the fitness of Varun Chakaravarthy, who reportedly suffered a blow to the hand.

KKR’s squad for IPL 2026: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Manish Pandey, Sunil Narine, Rovman Powell, Cameron Green, Rachin Ravindra, Rinku Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Ramandeep Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Anukul Roy, Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen (wk), Navdeep Saini, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Prashant Solanki, Kartik Tyagi, Matheesha Pathirana, Blessing Muzarabani, Sarthak Ranjan, Daksh Kamra, Tejasvi Singh (wk), Saurabh Dubey.

On that note, here is KKR’s predicted playing XI, plus some impact player options, for their IPL 2026 match against LSG.

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Openers: Finn Allen and Ajinkya Rahane (c)

Ajinkya Rahane and Finn Allen are expected to continue opening the batting for KKR. Although Sunil Narine is wasted at other positions, Kolkata aren’t expected to shake up their current combination.

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Middle Order: Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Cameron Green, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh

Angkrish Raghuvanshi has been in good nick during IPL 2026, but the form of the other middle-order batters has been concerning. Cameron Green’s impending return to bowling will boost KKR, but they need Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh and Anukul Roy to step up.

Both Ramandeep and Anukul aren’t guaranteed to feature, but Kolkata might want a bit longer before pulling the plug.

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Lower Order: Sunil Narine, Kartik Tyagi, Blessing Muzarabani, Vaibhav Arora

Sunil Narine was unwell and missed the last game, but has returned to training and is expected to feature. Varun Chakaravarthy, though, is reportedly yet to recover from his hand injury.

Vaibhav Arora, Blessing Muzarabani and Kartik Tyagi could be the three frontline pacers for KKR.

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Impact Player Options: Tejasvi Singh, Manish Pandey, Navdeep Saini

Navdeep Saini was named in the playing XI for the last game, but Green’s involvement as bowler means that his participation isn’t guaranteed. If KKR want an extra batting option, they could bring in either Tejasvi Singh or Manish Pandey.