Good evening, cricket fans! This is the start of our live blog covering the IPL 2026 match between KKR vs LSG at the Eden Gardens. Stay tuned for pre-match updates and playing XIs as they are revealed.
Good evening, cricket fans! This is the start of our live blog covering the IPL 2026 match between KKR vs LSG at the Eden Gardens. Stay tuned for pre-match updates and playing XIs as they are revealed.
Fixture: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Lucknow Super Giants
Series: Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026
Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Date: Thursday, April 09, 2026
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Kolkata have been facing regular rain in the evening since Sunday. Their practice sessions got regularly interrupted and even in Wednesday, they had to cut the training short. Fans wondering, if rain will interrupt the KKR vs LSG match like the PBKS match, can get the information here.
Kolkata Knight Riders have been struggling against spin in the ongoing IPL 2026 and have poorest numbers amid all sides. With Digvesh Rathi and Manimaran Siddharth in the opposition, they will be under more pressure to deliver.
Cameron Green's bowling fitness has remained a big controversial talking point in the IPL 2026. The Aussie all-rounder is yet to rotate his arms in any of the matches so far. He has reportedly started bowling in the nets and there is a possibility he will bowl an over or two in the match vs LSG.
The Kolkata Knight Riders vs Lucknow Super Giants IPL 2026 match will be available for live telecast on the Star Sports Network channels. Fans can get the live streaming on the JioHotstar mobile app and website.
Mohammed Shami enters the KKR vs LSG clash as one of the most in-form bowlers of the 2026 season. Having been traded to Lucknow Super Giants for INR 10 crore ahead of this campaign, he has quickly become the spearhead of their pace attack.
Shami has been instrumental in LSG's early momentum, particularly in their recent victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad. He recorded a career-best IPL spell of 2/9 in 4 overs against SRH on April 5. He bowled 18 dot balls and dismissed both Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma in the opening overs.
KKR's premier Aussie all-rounder has marked his run-up at both ends of the Eden Gardens ahead of the clash against LSG. It is looking like he will finally get to rotate his arms.
Lucknow Super Giants have won the toss and have opted to bowl first.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane(c), Finn Allen, Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Navdeep Saini, Kartik Tyagi
Lucknow Super Giants: Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Manimaran Siddharth, Avesh Khan, Mohammed Shami, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Prince Yadav
Kolkata Knight Riders Impact subs - Manish Pandey, Vaibhav Arora, Tejasvi Dahiya, Rahul Tripathi, Tim Seifert
Lucknow Super Giants Impact subs - Ayush Badoni, Matthew Breetzke, Shahbaz Ahmad, Mayank Yadav, Himmat Singh
Some nice movement on offer upfront from the seamers and they utilise it to their maximum. Mohammed Shami troubled Finn Allen in the first over as the tried to maximise the field restrictions. But he found a few boundaries in the second over, before finding an outside edge to Prince Yadav. The ball flew towards the deep third man fielder who took a catch dangerous close to the boundary rope. KKR under pressure.
The powerplay has been a roller coaster ride for the Kolkata Knight Riders. They struggled in the first over with Mohammed Shami troubling Finn Allen and then after Allen departed, Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi tried to stitch a partnership. They tried to pick up pace in the final two overs of the powerplay and got some shots landing right. LSG will look to put pressure on the duo through the spinners after powerplay.

KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane departs on 41 with Digvesh Singh Rathi dismissing the Mumbai-born batter. Rahane played a good knock and was looking dangerous at the crease but Rathi's spin has done the trick for Rishabh Pant's team.
KKR: 101/2 (11 Overs)
KKR have not been able to form a successful partnership in this IPL 2026 and today's match is a proof. Rahane's wicket brought another one as Raghuvanshi also exited on 45 (33). Kolkata need a rebuild or could lose momentum in this game quite quickly.
KKR: 111/3 (13 Overs)
Rinku Singh's disappointing start to IPL 2026 continues as the India batter could only add four runs to his tally, and piling more pressure on his team. LSG are right on top in this match now, and few more wickets, and that could get them going for the rest of the match.
KKR: 115/4 (15 Overs)
Rovman Powell and Cameron Green are key to KKR reaching a big total now. Three overs remain and the hosts need some big hitting if they are to reach 170 or more.
KKR: 144/4 (17 Overs)
Superb counter-attacking from Cameron Green and Rovman Powell. The West Indian-Australian pair have taken the attack to the LSG bowlers with some big shots. Great entertainment this for the Kolkata crowd, who have been left disappointed with their team's performance off late.
KKR: 169/4 (19 Overs)
Kolkata Knight Riders have ended up with 181. Superb death bowling from LSG, not allowing any room for error. Cameron Green and Rovman Powell played well, and KKR have to thank them, for posting that total.
KKR: 181/4 (20 Overs)
It’s not a placid KKR wicket we’re used to. You know, it’s not a 220-250 wicket, I think 180-190 is a good score, once we control the powerplay. (What were the discussions between you and Green?) It was just a case of holding your shape a little bit longer, it’s not that placid wicket where the ball is sliding onto the bat. So you have to hold your shape a little bit longer. That’s what we were talking about and try our best to get bat to ball. (Did you fancy that match-up [against Siddharth] a little bit more than the matchup against Rathi?) Yeah, definitely. You know, it’s something that I work on, not try to go and push around the spinners, but be a little bit more aggressive in my mindset against the spinners. And I’ve realized over the last 12 months or so, once I be aggressive, I normally get in better positions to bat the spinners. (We heard you have been bowling) I have let go a few deliveries in the net. It’s been a while I haven’t bowled in a game, but if called upon, I’m ready.
Aiden Markram and Mitchell Marsh are at the crease and will look to give their side the ideal start in Kolkata. 182 to get on a tacky wicket, which is slow. Early wickets and KKR are in the game but other than that, LSG will think it's their game to lose.
LSG: 0/0 (1 Over)
KKR: 181/4 (20 Overs)
Superb start from Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram. LSG have blasted 31 runs of the first three overs and put the pressure back on the KKR bowlers. Marsh in particular, hammered Navdeep Saini, by scoring 18 runs of his over.
LSG: 31/0 (3 Overs)
KKR: 181/4 (20 Overs)
Vaibhav Arora, you beauty! The pacer takes two wickets in his over as KKR fight back to put the brakes on the LSG momentum. Ajinkya Rahane could have not asked for a brighter start and Arora has delivered just that.
LSG: 50/2 (5 Overs)
KKR: 181/4 (20 Overs)
Despite the two wickets, Lucknow are on track to achieve the target. Rishabh Pant and Ayush Badoni have been pacing it well and not looking to hit the boundaries at will. KKR need to apply the brakes with wickets.
LSG: 72/2 (8 Overs)
KKR: 181/4 (20 Overs)
Cameron Green comes out to bowl and voila! The Aussie takes the big wicket of LSG captain Rishabh Pant. Superb this from KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane and LSG are now in a spot of bother.
LSG: 85/3 (10 Overs)
KKR: 181/4 (20 Overs)
Kolkata Knight Riders have come with the same plan of bowling slower bouncers into the wicket and that give them result yet again. The ball of Kartik Tyagi gripped and Nicholas Pooran played a false shot trying to pull. The ball only got high and no distance at all. Ramandeep Singh came in and took a good catch. KKR are fighting hard now.
Lucknow Super Giants spot a weaklink in KKR bowling attack and scalp a big over. It is Navdeep Saini who ends up being expensive. His only variation of slower cutter got picked up and Ayush Badoni smashed three boundaries to get the innings going. Badoni will want to stay till the end and finish the game.
KKR has punched LSG back with two wickets and two very tight overs. First Anukul Roy teased Ayush Badoni outside of the stumps after conceding a six. Badoni decided to go over the off-side but only found Rinku Singh at long off. Next over, Sunil Narine troubles Mukul Choudhary and Mohammed Shami with sharp turn and in the last ball of the over Shami slog sweeps to the deep fielder. KKR are in a good position here.
Mukul Choudhary has played an unexpected knock late in the innings and kept the match alive despite wickets tumbling at one end and him having to play with a tailender at the other end. Lucknow Super Giants enter the final over with 14 needed off 6 overs.
Some exceptional ball striking from Mukul Choudhary. The shot in the fifth ball of the last over was absolutely amazing. He picked up a slightly missed yorker on the offside to lift it over the deep cover boundary line. Nailed his shots in the death overs and took Lucknow Super Giants over the finishing line from a backfoot position. KKR will be gutted to not being able to close down the game give the window and the opportunities they had. This is the second consecutive win for LSG on the other hand.
Mukul Choudhary is awarded the player of the match award for his unbeaten 54 off 27 balls. He stayed unbeaten till the end and took LSG over the finishing line.
"Tough one to take. Really proud of the boys, for the way we played. I thought Mukul's (Choudhary) knock was defining. The way he played his shots, he was brave. But again, games like these, you don't want to pinpoint too many things. I thought till 18 overs, we were going really good. Last two overs, execution here and there can happen. But credit to Mukul and that partnership. (Pace off into the wicket length had worked well for you) Yeah, those deliveries did work. For them (LSG), it was nothing to lose. Two overs, 30 runs to win. Every ball it was about swinging. And I thought he was really brave to play those shots. There were some brilliant shots. I thought there a couple of brilliant deliveries (bowled), but the way he batted was amazing. Nothing, I mean, probably in the fielding, I'd say a couple of misfields, but apart from that, I thought our bowlers did a brilliant job.
(How he looks back at the game) See, when you lose a game you can easily think about things we could have done better. But as I said, batting wise, the partnership Anki (Raghuvanshi) and me had and then Rovman Powell and (Cameron) Greeny, I thought 180, 185 was a very good total on this wicket. Wasn't easy to play big shots. Slow balls were stopping, it was hard to hit. But in the end, I thought, let's give credit to the batter, the way he (Mukul) batted. (Any thought to crowd Avesh for the first ball of the last over?) The intention was to keep Avesh (Khan) on strike. But again, we had to keep five fielders up because of the field restriction and the time limit. So it's tough on bowlers as well. When you have five fielders inside the circle, especially bowling the last over, it's tough.
"When we see him in the nets, when you see someone you can see that.. When you do it in the match, I have no words to describe. But what a fantastic effort. One thing I make sure is the trust, as a captain and the management, having the trust plays a big role. Definitely it is the character, every match someone is putting their hand, something is building for sure, we don't want to talk too much, but something good is cooking. He has been the senior pro in the team, giving him responsibility and he played an amazing role. He (Shami) is not getting younger, the experience he brings is invaluable. Not only Shami Bhai but the whole bowling unit is doing an amazing job."
"My journey started when my father was not even married, his dream was his son has to play cricket. I started at the age group level but there were not good academies in Sikkim. I played matches in Delhi and Guragaon and that helped me. When I was playing against U19 versus UP, it was a low scoring game and I made a contribution, so he knew then that I would make it big. It was only my second match. God has given me this opportunity, there can be pressure but it is also an opportunity to make a name for myself. My aim was to bat till the last and see what happens. Even I liked the first six, I had not scored a single six in two games, so the first one was special. In my mind I knew one out of the four balls will be in the slot and I was just waiting for it. From younger days I like hitting sixes and not playing along the ground."
Lucknow Super Giants play Gujarat Titans on April 12, Sunday
Kolkata Knight Riders play Chennai Super Kings on April 14, Tuesday
Tags