KKR Vs PBKS, IPL 2026: Why Are Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine Not Playing Today's Match?

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) went without both their frontline spinners, Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, for match 12 of Indian Premier League 2026 against Punjab Kings at the Eden Gardens on Monday (April 6).

ALSO READ: KKR Vs PBKS Live Score

The last time KKR played an IPL game without Narine as well as Varun was back in 2019, against Delhi Capitals at the same venue. The Knight Riders had lost that match by seven wickets, and would hope for a different outcome this time around.

So, why is the duo not playing tonight? Chakravarthy got injured while taking a catch in the last game against SunRisers Hyderabad, KKR skipper Rahane said at the toss. Navdeep Saini replaced him in the playing XI.

As for Narine, Rahane said he was unwell. Fellow West Indian cricketer Rovman Powell replaced the spin bowler in the home team's side. PBKS, meanwhile, went with an unchanged playing XI, Iyer confirmed.

There is a big question mark on the weather during the match, with showers and a thunderstorm predicted all through the evening. Rain made its first appearance in the fourth over of the KKR innings, forcing the umpires to stop play.

KKR Vs PBKS, IPL 2026: Playing XIs

Kolkata Knight Riders: Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Navdeep Saini, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi

Impact substitutes: Blessing Muzarabani, Manish Pandey, Tejasvi Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Saurabh Dubey

Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Cooper Connolly, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal

Impact substitutes: Priyansh Arya, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Pravin Dubey, Harpreet Brar