Mumbai, Mar 26 (IANS): Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bowl first against the Ravindra Jadeja-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the opening match of the IPL 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Saturday.
Iyer was picked by KKR during the mega IPL auction and he is playing as well as leading the franchise for the first time. Apart from him, Ajinkya Rahane, Sam Billings also made their KKR debut in the season opener.
"We will bowl first. I am super excited. It is a great honour to don this jersey. The players who have been playing for this unit have been doing well. The track seems to be a belter and the dew will come in later and make it better," said the KKR captain at the toss.
"We are going in with three overseas players - Billings, Narine and Russell. Three of us got caps today. Myself, Billings and Rahane," he added.
On the other hand, the newly appointed CSK captain Jadeja mentioned that he is excited for the new role and his team is going with four overseas players in this match.
"Big shoes to fill in. Happy and excited for the new role. We are going with four foreign players. Conway, Bravo, Milne and Santner are our foreign players," said Jadeja.
Playing XI:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer(c), Nitish Rana, Sam Billings(w), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Sheldon Jackson, Umesh Yadav, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakaravarthy
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja(c), Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni(w), Dwayne Bravo, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tushar Deshpande