Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan Has named his predicted playing 12 for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of the start of the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
Pathan has gone with a balance that most modern T20 teams follow – there are eight batsmen in the team which includes some all-rounders like Cameron Green and Ramandeep Singh.
One of the main points of discussion from Pathan's side KKR There was the exclusion of the great Sunil Narine in favor of the uncapped Tejashwi Dahiya. The 23-year-old scored 339 runs at an average close to 50 at a strike-rate of 190.45 in the Delhi Premier League in 2025. KKR signed him for Rs 3 crore.
However, Pathan explains his reasons behind the selection and it also includes a scenario where Narine could replace Finn Allen as the opening batsman along with captain Ajinkya Rahane.
“If you want to play Tejashwi Dahiya, you can open again with Sunil Narine in place of Finn Allen, which is not ideal. Ideally, you would want to play an opener who has already scored runs on this ground. Finn Allen had a brilliant century, which was in the semi-finals, and he also did very well in the World Cup. So, you would want to start with him,” Pathan said on his YouTube channel.
“However, the challenge of facing spin will remain for him. You can make this swap. If you don't, and Tejaswi Dahiya is not played, Sunil Narine will come in at number eight and act as a floater, come in the middle and potentially come in at number three,” he said.
Pathan included Cameron Green at number 3. The Australian comes into the 2026 IPL with huge expectations after being bought for Rs 25.20 crore in the mini auction as a replacement for the now-retired Andre Russell.
The former player-turned-specialist also made three bowling choices in the playing eleven, one of which was included as an impact sub. It could be either Sri Lanka's Mathiesha Pathirana or any other Indian fast bowler, depending on whether Narine is in the team or not.
Irfan Pathan's Kolkata Knight Riders playing 12:
Ajinkya Rahane, Finn Allen, Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi/Tripathi, Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya/Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakraborty.
Impact Player: Mathisha Pathirana (when available) or any other fast bowler (Akash Deep, Karthik Tyagi, Umran Malik).
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