IPL 2025: Why Sunil Narine missed RR-KKR encounter
What's the story
Sunil Narine missed Kolkata Knight Riders's (KKR) IPL 2025 encounter against Rajasthan Royals at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati.
At the toss, KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane revealed that the star all-rounder will be sitting out as he is unwell.
His absence is a huge blow for the defending champions as it shakes both their bowling and batting line-ups.
Here are further details.
Replacement
Moeen Ali to replace Narine in KKR lineup
As mentioned, Rahane confirmed that Narine will miss out due to his illness.
As a result, England's Moeen Ali has been roped in as his replacement for tonight's match.
This will be Moeen's debut game in KKR colors after the franchise bought him at a base price of ₹2 crore during the mega auction.
Mooen has earlier played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.
Performance
Narine's impact in previous match
In KKR's season opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on March 22, Narine made a big impact.
He scored a quickfire 44 runs off just 26 balls and was also their most economical bowler with figures of 1/27.
However, despite his efforts, KKR lost to RCB, who successfully chased down the target of 175 runs within 16.2 overs.
Information
KKR's Playing XI for RR match
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock (wicket-keeper), Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Rinku Singh, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Spencer Johnson, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, and Varun Chakaravarthy.
Information
A rarity for Narine
As per Cricbuzz, Narine last missed an IPL match for KKR in the 2021 edition (against RCB) in Chennai. He is KKR's most experienced player, with 181 wickets and 1,578 runs. His strike-rate reads 165.93.