IPL 2019: Rajasthan opt to bowl, Oshane makes IPL debut against Kolkata at Eden Gardens

While Kolkata is facing a must win situation ahead of the remaining four matches, ‘Steve Smith-led’ Rajasthan Royals' fate too hangs by the thread after losing their last match against Delhi

After suffering five defeats on the trot, Russell-reliant Kolkata Knight Riders will look for a desperate win for a turnaround in fortunes as they lock horns against Rajasthan Royals on Thursday. While Kolkata is facing a must win situation ahead of the remaining four matches, ‘Steve Smith-led’ Rajasthan Royals' fate too hangs by the thread after losing their last match against Delhi. Coming to the toss, Rajasthan won toss and opted to bowl against Kolkata at the green looking pitch of Eden Gardens. For RR, Oshane makes his IPL debut as he replaces Turner and Dhawal Kulkarni is out as Varun Aaron replaces him in the playing XI.

The @rajasthanroyals win the toss and elect to bowl first against the @KKRiders at the Eden Gardens.#KKRvRR pic.twitter.com/DDzYVTHlyh

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 25, 2019

"We are gonna bowl first. It looks nice. Welcome change from what we are playing in Jaipur. Some positive signs, you want batters in the top four to score runs.", said Smith. For Kolkata, Prasidh comes in for KC Cariappa and star batsman Brathwaite replaces Gurney. "It's got a lot of grass cover. One of the things is to keep right people in the right space.", said Karthik. Teams (Playing XI): Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik(w/c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Piyush Chawla, Yarra Prithviraj, Prasidh Krishna Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson(w), Steven Smith(c), Ben Stokes, Riyan Parag, Stuart Binny, Shreyas Gopal, Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat, Oshane Thomas, Varun Aaron