KKR became the second team after Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to play 100 IPL matches at the same venue at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.A win for Gujarat Titans, who are on a five-match winning streak, will make them the first team to qualify for the IPL 2026 playoffs. A defeat for KKR will end their playoff hopes.Former KKR captain before the start of the match eoin morgan The bell rang in the Gardens of Eden.After winning the toss, Captain GT Shubman Gill Said that the pitch looked a bit sticky due to rain around Kolkata on Friday.“It feels like (the pitch is damp). There was a bit of rain yesterday and it looks a bit sticky. Gill said at the time of the toss, we are hoping that it will be better in the second innings.“Of course, we believe that batsmen win you matches, but if you want to win championships, your bowling unit has to be in form, and fortunately for us, they have been firing on all cylinders. Our bowling unit has been on top this season. The momentum is with us, and we have to continue to do the things we are doing well.”“This is not the stage, this is not the time to take any team lightly, but we are hoping to win the next two matches and hopefully hold on to the top two spots. It gives an edge to the teams in the top two. You get an extra match. Hopefully, we won’t play extra matches, but it gives you an edge; you can go out there and play your game,” he said.KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane confirmed that spinner Varun Chakravarthy has returned to the playing eleven after recovering from injury and has been replaced by Vaibhav Arora.“Taking one game at a time. We have to win three games and see what happens. We have been playing really good cricket in the last five games. We were also focusing on the fielding. There is a bit of moisture. I don’t think it will change too much,” he said.Playing XI:Gujarat Titans: Sai Sudarshan, Shubman Gill (captain), Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ravishrinivasan Sai Kishore and Mohammed Siraj.Impact Options: Rahul Tewatia, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Prasidh Krishna and Kumar Kushagra.Kolkata Knight Riders: Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green, Rinku Singh, Manish Pandey, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakravarthy, Kartik Tyagi, Saurabh Dubey.Impact Options: Vaibhav Arora, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya, Rovman Powell, and Mathisha Pathirana.