Toss: Rajasthan Royals chose to bowl v Kolkata Knight Riders

Rajasthan Royals captain Steven Smith decided to field first against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on Thursday. Smith said that it was a welcome change to play on a slightly more grassy pitch, which his opposite number Dinesh Karthik also said would help the batsmen.

The home side have dropped Harry Gurney and KC Cariappa, and have brought in Prasidh Krishna and Carlos Brathwaite. That means there was still no room in the XI for Robin Uthappa and Kuldeep Yadav, who had been left out in Knight Riders' previous game, against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Royals have given an IPL debut to fast bowler Oshane Thomas and also added Varun Aaron, dropping Ashton Turner and Dhawal Kulkarni.

Knight Riders are looking to break their five-match losing streak this season, having slid down to sixth on the points table after beginning the season well. They also have the worst bowling economy rate, conceding runs at 9.10 per over in IPL 2019. Royals have had problems of their own, chiefly to do with their team's batting and bowling not clicking together. They are currently in last place on the table with just six points.

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Chris Lynn, 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Shubman Gill, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Dinesh Karthik (capt, wk), 6 Andre Russell, 7 Carlos Brathwaite, 8 Rinku Singh, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Prithvi Raj, 11 Prasidh Krishna

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Sanju Samson (wk), 3 Steven Smith, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Riyan Parag, 6 Stuart Binny, 7 Jofra Archer, 8 Shreyas Gopal, 9 Jaydev Unadkat, 10 Oshane Thomas, 11 Varun Aaron