IPL 2026: Why Knight Riders were forced to leave out Varun Chakaravarthy & Sunil Narine in KKR vs PBKS? Explained
KKR will not have the spin twins of Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine against Punjab Kings in IPL 2026. While Navdeep Saini is making his KKR debut replacing Chakaravarthy, Narine makes way for fellow Rovman Powell.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) were forced to leave out spin twins of Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine against Punjab Kings in their Indian Premier League (IPL) clash on Monday at the Eden Gardens. The development came in just before the game at the coin toss from skipper Ajinkya Rahane.
Having lost both of their games, KKR are under immense pressure of lodging first points in IPL 2026. On the other hand, Punjab Kings are coming into this game after winning against Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings.
When asked if there are any changes in the playing XI, Rahane revealed KKR were forced to make a couple of changes. “Two changes, forced. Varun Chakaravarthy got injured taking the catch in the last game and Narine is sick. Powell and Saini are in,” said the KKR captain.
Chakaravarthy has been a pillar for KKR since he joined the franchise in 2020. The catch that Rahane referred to was off Sunrisers Hyderabad's Abhishek Sharma, which sparked controversy on social media.
Chance for Navdeep Saini to prove his worth
Saini, a Delhi bowler, went unsold during the IPL 2026 mini-auction in Abu Dhabi last December. He was among the bunch of five or six who were called for trials after Harshit Rana and Akash Deep were ruled out due to injuries. Saini was signed as a replacement for Rana.
Before KKR, Saini played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Rajasthan Royals in IPL. Saini has scalped 23 wickets in 32 IPL matches played so far, in addition to 23 wickets in international cricket for India. “He will replace the injured Harshit and join KKR for ₹75 Lakh,” KKR said in a statement.
For Powell, this will be the West Indian's first outing in IPL 2026. Powell has been a part of KKR since 2025 and played just two games in the last season.
KKR vs PBKS playing XIs in IPL 2026
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Cooper Connolly, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Kolkata Knight Riders: Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Navdeep Saini, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi
Catch the live updates from IPL 2026 with the complete IPL 2026 Schedule and the IPL 2026 Points Table. Also, know who are currently leading the charts in IPL 2026 Orange Cap and IPL 2026 Purple Cap.