Guwahati: Kolkata Knight Riders suffered a big blow ahead of their match against Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2025 on Wednesday. The team missed the services of Sunil Narine in the fixture played at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. Moeen Ali made his debut for KKR in the contest.
The West Indies all-rounder amassed 109 runs from 56 deliveries and picked a couple of wickets last season when both teams met in Kolkata last season in the IPL. Narine was the MVP of the season in the previous edition and scored 44 runs from 26 deliveries in the opening match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on March 22.
However, this is the first time that Narine will be missing a KKR fixture since 2021. The last time Sunil Narine missed a game for KKR was against RCB in Chennai during the IPL 2021 first leg.
“We'll look to bowl first. The wicket looks really good. If we bowl first, we'll get an idea how this wicket is. The dew factor is huge here. It's about staying positive, this format is all about being fearless, playing with intent. We played very good cricket, T20 is all about giving your best every day,” Rahane stated after winning the toss.
“We are looking forward to this game. We learnt a lot from the last game. We want to stay in the moment. I don't look at the stars that much for me, it's all about contributing. Sunil Narine misses out, he's not well. Moeen Ali comes in," said Rahane.
KKR opted to bowl first against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati, and Rahane revealed that Narine won’t be playing.
