Sam Curran, captain of the Punjab Kings, won the toss and elected to field first against the Kolkata Knight Riders in a crucial Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match on Friday.
Curran, aware of his team's precarious playoff position, emphasized the importance of victory. "We will have to win all the games from now onwards to qualify for the playoffs," he said. "Players are excited to play against Kolkata and hopefully we will win today."
Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Shreyas Iyer expressed confidence in his team's depth. "We have several match-winners in the team," Iyer said. "All the players are contributing and that is why we have done well in this season. I am looking forward to the game."
However, Iyer confirmed the absence of key fast bowler Mitchell Starc due to injury.
Playing XIs:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Phil Salt, Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Dushmantha Chameera, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana
Punjab Kings: Sam Curran (c), Jonny Bairstow, Rilee Rossouw, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh
