Kolkata, April 29: Match 39 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 between Kolkata Knight Riders and Gujarat Titans at the Eden Gardens on Saturday will start from 4:15pm after a delay due to wet outfield.
An official update from the tournament said no overs will be lost from Saturday’s game, which was delayed due to wet outfield. Earlier, shortly after Gujarat had won the toss and elected to bowl first, it started to rain, with the ground staff covering the whole ground with white sheets immediately.
Around 3:17pm, the sun began to shine its way through the clouds with the covers beginning to be removed. Though the pitch and square was uncovered, broadcast visuals showed some areas of the ground were still having the covers on, in anticipation of more rain, with the players doing some warm-ups near the dugout.
Previously, after winning the toss and electing to bowl first against Kolkata, Gujarat captain Pandya said his playing eleven is unchanged from their last game. Kolkata skipper Nitish Rana said pacer Harshit Rana comes in for Umesh Yadav due to the latter’s hamstring strain.
Rana also added that opener Jason Roy also misses out because of a back niggle, with Rahmanullah Gurbaz replacing him in the playing eleven and Shardul Thakur being back after recovering from a niggle, replacing Vaibhav Arora.
The last time these two teams met in the competition, Rinku Singh orchestrated an unforgettable finish for ages by smashing Yash Dayal for five consecutive sixes and sealing a victory for Kolkata at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
All three matches in Kolkata have produced 200+ first innings totals so far in the tournament. While Kolkata enter Saturday’s match on the back of a 21-run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru, Gujarat arrive after defeating Mumbai Indians by 55 runs earlier this week.
Gujarat leg-spinner Rashid Khan is set to play his 100th IPL game, while Andre Russell, who is turning 35 on Saturday, will be completing a century of appearances for Kolkata in the tournament.
