IPL 2025: Why Spencer Johnson Replaced Moeen Ali in KKR's Playing XI for Match 21?

The IPL 2025 Match No. 21 has been rescheduled from Sunday to Tuesday, April 8, at Kolkata's iconic Eden Gardens. At the famous stadium, the match between the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) began with the latter being put in to bat first.

The Englishman was left out since KKR already has two excellent spinners on their roster: Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine. Since the pitch isn't projected to be very turning, KKR has chosen to go with an extra pace option that will provide them more luxury with the new ball and at the end. Moeen was picked for the previous game, but he didn't bowl or bat.

All-rounder Moeen Ali was replaced by ace pacer Spencer Johnson, which was the only change made to KKR's lineup from the previous match. The defending champions must have been tempted to abandon the seasoned player since the English all-rounder did not mesh well with the batting combination and was ineffectual with the ball. The LSG captain, Rishabh Pant, stated that they hadn't changed their starting lineup.

Moeen Ali Benched:

KKR bowl first at the Eden Gardens!

Spencer Johnson is in for Moeen Ali 🔁

🔗 https://t.co/An81hq9kuU | #IPL2025 pic.twitter.com/lULR7xU5fU

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) April 8, 2025

Additionally, Moeen Ali hasn't been playing well at bat, either. In the first game he played this season, against RR, he was only able to score five runs in 12 balls. Although he took two wickets and performed admirably with the ball, adding him would have made KKR's bowling attack too spin-heavy and would have backfired.

However, with two wins and two losses, it is a pivotal match for both teams. They would maintain their momentum if they won this game, but a defeat would place them in a vulnerable position once more.

KKR vs LSG:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Spencer Johnson, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Quinton de Kock (w), Sunil Narine, and Ajinkya Rahane (c).

Impact Subs: Luvnith Sisodia, Rovman Powell, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, and Angkrish Raghuvanshi

Lucknow Super Giants: Ayush Badoni, David Miller, Abdul Samad, Shardul Thakur, Akash Deep, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant (w/c), Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, and David Miller

Impact Subs: Himmat Singh, Matthew Breetzke, Shahbaz Ahamad, Prince Yadav, and Ravi Bishnoi

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