Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took a backhanded swipe at the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) leadership for choosing to bat first in their Monday’s IPL 2026 clash against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the Eden
Gardens. He said making the call despite knowing that the match would be affected by rain and that the home bowling attack is inexperienced was ‘interesting’.
The weather forecast had predicted hours before the match that rain would fall around 8 pm IST, which is when it came and interrupted the match. By then, KKR had lost two wickets for just 25 runs after three overs, with both Cameron Green and Finn Allen falling to Xavier Bartlett’s impressive swing.
“When you know it’s going to be a rain-affected game, with an inexperienced bowling attack at your disposal, you choose to bat first. Interesting thought process,” Ashwin wrote on X.
By an inexperienced bowling attack, Ashwin meant: Navdeep Saini (has played for India but making KKR debut), Kartik Tyagi, Vaibhav Arora, Cameron Green, and Anukul Roy. KKR’s two senior-most bowlers, Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine, were both forced absences from the playing 11.
Why is bowling first a better decision in a rain-affected match?
Rain-affected games are always tricky to navigate, but cricket’s lineage suggests that no matter the format, a captain winning the toss should bowl first. Firstly, whatever moisture trickles onto the pitch makes batting harder and bowling easier, because the ball takes a bit of uneven bounce and can also seam more.
Moreover, it’s better to chase in a rain-affected game. When overs are reduced, cricket uses the DLS method to calculate the target, which more often than not favors the chasing team.
In KKR’s case, it’s even more surprising, because as Ashwin said, the inexperienced bowling attack would have loved the opportunity to bowl first on this pitch, with batters assuming the responsibility to then chase a favorable target in the second essay.
