KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane revealed the reason during the coin toss.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) T20 stalwart Sunil Narine will be absent from their Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) clash against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) tonight (March 26).
In Narine’s place, KKR have handed debut to former England all-rounder Moeen Ali. Notably, Ali was acquired by the defending champions at the auction last November for his base price of INR 2 crores.
KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane revealed during the coin toss that Sunil Narine is ‘unwell’, which is why Ali comes in for the KKR vs RR match.
Rahane said, “We learnt a lot from the last game. We want to stay in the moment. I don’t look at the stars that much, for me, it’s all about contributing. Sunil Narine misses out, he’s not well. Moeen Ali comes in.”
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Moeen Ali is an experienced campaigner in the IPL and KKR will be hoping to extract the most out of the seasoned all-rounder in the absence of Narine. Ali has been a constant face in the IPL, plying his trade with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) from 2018-2020 before joining the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2021. He was with the five-time champions until last season before joining the Purple and Gold outfit.
In 67 IPL appearances so far, the 37-year-old has amassed 1162 runs, which includes six fifties and a highest score of 93. He has been handy with his spin as well, snaring 35 wickets with best figures of 4/26 and a tidy economy 7.07.
For the unversed, Moeen Ali announced his retirement from international cricket earlier this year and plays franchise cricket.
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