Why is Varun Chakravarthy Not in KKR Playing XI Tonight for KKR vs PBKS IPL 2026 clash? It is a question that will be on the minds of many fans, especially since the star Kolkata Knight Riders spinner was absent from the lineup.
Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings lock horns tonight (April 6) in their respective third game of the tournament, being played at the Eden Gardens Stadium, in Kolkata.
The question ‘Why is Varun Chakravarthy Not in KKR Playing XI Tonight for KKR vs PBKS IPL 2026 clash?’ has been trending since the toss. The answer is simple: Varun Chakravarthy won’t be available for the contest after suffering a finger injury while taking a catch in the previous game against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The same was confirmed by KKR spinner Ajinkya Rahane during the coin toss.
Rahane said, “Two changes, forced changes. Varun Chakaravarthy unfortunately got injured taking a catch in the last game and Sunil Narine is sick.”
In the absence of Varun Chakravarthy, pacer Navdeep Saini is set to make his KKR debut. Notably, Saini was signed as an injury replacement for Harshit Rana, who has been ruled out for the season.
Varun so far has endured a tough IPL 2026, conceding 48 in his four overs in the opener against Mumbai Indians (MI) and then had another disappointing outing against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), where he went for 31 runs in his two overs and has remained wicketless.
On the other hand, for Sunil Narine, Rovman Powell has been slotted into the KKR Playing XI.
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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
KKR Impact Subs: Blessing Muzarabani, Manish Pandey, Tejasvi Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Saurabh Dubey
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
PBKS Impact Subs: Priyansh Arya, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Pravin Dubey, Harpreet Brar
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