KKR, who last won an IPL trophy in 2014, have flattered to deceive the last few seasons. They last qualified for the final in 2021 after a gap of seven years and finished seventh on the table last year, winning six games.

The Shreyas Iyer-led side are live streaming their first practice game of the season, which is being held at the Eden Gardens. The intra-squad game has two sides: Team Purple and Team Gold, referencing the two colours of the franchise.

Thoughts on the Playing XI for our first practice match #KnightsArmy❓💭 pic.twitter.com/izQe8kg7Po

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) March 17, 2024

Team Gold represents their first-choice batting top-order and has the likes of Phil Salt, Venkatesh Iyer, Manish Pandey, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh and Andre Russell. In a bid to get the top batters to face quality bowling, team Purple has a stronger bowling attack with Varun Chakravarthy, young mystery spinner Suyash Sharma, Chetan Sakariya and promising quick Harshit Rana.

The match began on Sunday (March 17) at 7pm IST. The warm-up will be followed by a group fielding session. The batting order of the two teams is flexible.

The notable absentee from the game is skipper Iyer, who was in the news for his back injury issues recently. Iyer, who was not given a BCCI central contract, flared up his back injury during the Ranji Trophy final but has flown to Kolkata and is likely to be fit for the first game KKR play, on March 23 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Sunil Narine and Mitchell Starc are not taking part either. While Narine has landed in Kolkata, Starc is yet to arrive.

KKR practice match live in IPL 2024: Where to watch live

The game can be watched live on KKR’s account on X (formerly Twitter) here