Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Veteran batter Manish Pandey has come in for an injured Venkatesh Iyer as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won the toss and elected to bat first against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in match 57 of IPL 2025 at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday.
For defending champions KKR, it’s a do-or-die encounter as a victory over an already eliminated CSK will keep their play-offs hopes alive. After winning the toss, KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane said Iyer misses out because he has stitches on his hand, thus paving the way for Pandey to come into the playing eleven.
“Looks a good wicket. Last two games we batted first and did really well. We want to put runs on the board and defend it. What's important is taking one game at a time. Not thinking much about the future. Lots of learnings from the previous match, guys are looking forward to this game. You are bound to lose close games, but you need to be confident. If there's a chance, we will try to give our best,” he said.
