Kolkata Knight Riders Ajinkya Rahane made a single change for their match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, with Moeen Ali replacing Spencer Johnson. Sunrisers Hyderabad, on the other hand, remained unchanged.

Ajinkya Rahane Surprised by Pitch Question at Toss Amid Eden Curator Dispute

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane was caught off guard when asked about the pitch at the toss during their IPL 2025 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens. The question came amid KKR’s ongoing row with Eden curator Sujan Mukherjee over pitch conditions. Rahane briefly paused before replying with a smile, stating, “Looks good, I’m really happy with the pitch… at home, you should get what you want.”

KKR had expressed dissatisfaction with the pitch conditions in their season opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore, where they felt the surface did not support their spinners. Mukherjee, defending his stance, reiterated that the BCCI guidelines dictate that the chief curator has the final say on pitch preparations, and franchises have no influence on this process. Despite tensions, Mukherjee offered to discuss the matter with Rahane and the KKR management before their match against SRH.

KKR make one change

Kolkata made just one change for the game against Sunrisers—Moeen Ali replaced Spencer Johnson. The visitors, however, remained unchanged.

Teams:

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Aniket Verma, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Kamindu Mendis, Pat Cummins(c), Harshal Patel, Simarjeet Singh, Mohammed Shami, Zeeshan Ansari

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy