The England all-rounder has claimed two wickets from the two matches he played in IPL 2025
Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders look to get a lift off in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 following their thumping win over Sunrisers Hyderabad by 80 runs in their previous clash.
On Tuesday as they hosted Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Ajinkya Rahane’s side have thrown in a single change in their playing XI by replacing English all-rounder Moeen Ali with Australian left-arm pacer Spencer Johnson.
According to the pitch report by Matthew Hayden, there is little bit of grass on the pitch which means the pitch could side with the bowlers in the first innings and make it tough for the bowlers later in the evening. There is also a possibility of a sticky wicket which is wonderful for a tall pacer like Johnson to trouble LSG batters today.
Johnson has so far played three games and claimed one wicket at an economy of 10.42. Moeen, meanwhile, has scored five runs and claimed two wickets from two matches in IPL 2025.
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Kolkata Knight Riders began the season on a bad note when they hosted Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the season opener. Virat Kohli (59 not out off 36), Phil Salt (56 off 31 balls) and Krunal Pandya (3-29) made sure RCB won by eight wickets.
In the second game, their bowling unit fired in unison while Quinton de Kock (97 not out off 61 balls) made sure they chased down a target of 152 in 17.3 overs.
Mumbai Indians got their first win of their season against KKR in the next match as debutant left-arm pacer Ashwani Kumar claimed 2-24 restricted them to 116 all out and Ryan Rickleton’s 62 not out off 41 balls helped MI to an easy eight-wicket victory.
Then came a floundering SRH who became cannon fodder for KKR’s bowling unit consisting Vaibhav Arora (3-29) and Varun Chakravarthy (3-22) who skittled them out for 120 in chase of 201 and secured an 80-run victory for KKR.
Johnson’s inclusion in the playing XI didn’t go as planned as far as the powerplay is concerned as he gave away 13 runs including a massive six by Mitchell Marsh over deep mid-wicket.
Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant said at toss that there are no changes to their playing XI.
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