IPL 2026: Linde comes in as LSG elect to bowl first against unchanged KKR
Lucknow, April 26
Lucknow Super Giants have brought in left-arm spinner George Linde as captain Rishabh Pant won the toss and elected to bowl first against Kolkata Knight Riders in match 38 of IPL 2026 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Both LSG and KKR need a win in a bid to turn around their struggling campaigns. LSG have managed just two wins in seven games to be in ninth place in the points table, while KKR have only one victory in as many matches and are at the bottom of the tally.
After winning the toss, Pant said Linde comes in for M Siddharth in the playing eleven. "We want to again put the opposition in the back first and just find the answer as a batting group.
"Definitely, we are working towards it. When there are lots of leaders in the family, you have to find a way, and we are pretty close to finding ways, and we gotta just stick together, stay tight, because we know that we can turn around the season from here, and I'm pretty confident to make it happen. See, definitely any kind of confidence is definitely needed, and we'll take that one too," he said.
KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane said his playing eleven is unchanged. "We are working towards it. We have to find a way; we are pretty close to it. We know we can turn around the season from here, I am pretty confident," he said.
Playing XIs:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Tim Seifert (wk), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Kartik Tyagi, Vaibhav Arora
Impact substitutes: Manish Pandey, Finn Allen, Tejasvi Singh Dahiya, Navdeep Saini, and Varun Chakaravarthy
Lucknow Super Giants: Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant (captain & wk), Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran, Mukul Choudhary, George Linde, Digvesh Rathi, Mohammed Shami, Prince Yadav, Mohsin Khan
Impact substitutes: Himmat Singh, Akshat Raghuvanshi, Abdul Samad, Avesh Khan, and M Siddharth
— IANS
Reader Comments
KKR's XI unchanged? Bohot bold move hai 😐 They've only won one match all season and they're sticking with the same combo? Where's Varun Chakravarthy when you need him? Impact sub rule wasted on him sitting out.
Both captains say 'we are close to finding answers' - bhai, you've played 7 matches, that's not close, that's over half the season gone! KKR especially needs a miracle at this point. At least Pant is trying different things, Rahane bhai kya kar rahe ho?
Credit to LSG for bringing in Linde - Ekana has always assisted spinners and M Siddharth hasn't been that convincing. Also nice to see Prince Yadav retain his place after that expensive over last match 😅 Let's see if the bowling changes actually deliver.
Honestly, both teams are in shambles. KKR's batting relies too much on Rinku and no one else is stepping up. LSG's top order of Marsh, Markram, Pooran - all inconsistent. Make it or break it match for both. 🇮🇳
KKR's 'unchanged' strategy feels like they've given up already. No Green, no Narine impact with the bat? And where's the domestic talent? Bring back Venkatesh Iyer or someone who can actually rotate strike. Ab season khatam hone wala hai 😤
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