IPL 2026: Is Shimron Hetmyer playing today in Match 28 vs KKR?

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will take on Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Match No. 28 of the Indian Premier League 2026 on April 19 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. KKR currently sit at the bottom of the points table with just one point, while RR are placed third with eight points.

KKR vs RR: Toss Update

Riyan Parag, captain of Rajasthan Royals, won the toss and elected to bat first, noting that the surface is dry and could assist in the first innings. He also added that the previous loss served as a learning phase for the team. On the other hand, Ajinkya Rahane, skipper of Kolkata Knight Riders, stated that given the team’s current situation, the batters should play with less pressure and focus on controllable aspects of the game.

Hetmyer, Brijesh in; Pretorius, Deshpande make way

Rajasthan Royals made two changes to their playing XI, bringing back Shimron Hetmyer and Brijesh Sharma. Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Tushar Deshpande made way for the duo. Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders went in with an unchanged lineup from their previous match.

KKR vs RR: What did the captains say?

Ajinkya Rahane, KKR Captain

We were looking to bat as well. As I said in the last game as well, batsmen should bat with freedom. The kind of situation we are in at the moment right now, we want all the batters to bat freely, have that fearless approach. The bowling unit has been doing well. They started to do really well. The last three games, especially the middle overs and end overs they bowled really well. That was the reason we thought batting first. But happy to lose the toss. We believe the past is dead, future, we don’t know what is rolling up. And now what we have at the moment is this moment. So giving our best, playing with freedom, and the focusing on controllables. Sometimes when you lose games, you try to think too many things. I feel the boys, the preparation has been fantastic. They’re in good mindspace. Results can go either way. So it’s all about being in this moment and playing with freedom. Same team.

Riyan Parag, RR Captain

We’re going to be batting first. Looks like a pretty dry wicket. The grass was cut yesterday, hoping for some turn in the first inning, but then a little bit more around the second innings, so that’s right. Last year we fell short, but the amount of turn Varun and Narine extracted last year as well, we feel if we get a little bit of the same, we’ve got really quality spinners, so trying to set up the tone, start up early up, and then hopefully defend that.  Win or lose, our strategies remain the same. Our discussions remain the same. We always try and look at the mistakes we’ve made and try and look at what we’ve done better and what we can do better. So I feel last match was a learning. This match, hopefully, we don’t repeat the same things and come out on top. Hetmyer comes back in, Lhuan steps out. Tushar gets a rest and Brijesh Sharma comes in.

KKR vs RR: Playing XIs

Kolkata Knight Riders

 Ajinkya Rahane (c), Tim Seifert (w), Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakaravarthy

Impact Players: Manish Pandey, Finn Allen, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Tejasvi Dahiya, Navdeep Saini

Rajasthan Royals

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (w), Riyan Parag (c), Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi

Impact Players: Sandeep Sharma, Shubham Dubey, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Ravi Singh, Yash Punja

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