Watch: Fun prank with KKR players at Eden Gardens ahead of KKR vs SRH IPL 2026 clash goes viral

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) started their campaign for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 with a defeat against the Mumbai Indians away from home at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Despite scoring a massive 220 runs in their first innings, they failed to defend the score and lost the contest by six wickets in 19.1 overs. 

The Ajinkya Rahane-led side now returns home for their first home clash against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on April 02 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, and hopes to start the competition with a victory. Both sides have lost their opening clash as Hyderabad comes off a defeat against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the curtain raiser. 

KKR players got pranked ahead of IPL 2026 contest vs SRH

To calm down the situation and environment of the team, the KKR management put up a funny prank on their players. They posted a video on social media, which showed a box coming to Rinku Singh at the start of their practice session on March 31. Rinku opened the box only for the spider to come out and surprise the batter.

Watch the video here: 

Next in the list was Shane Watson, who was surprised by the spider at the start before putting a smile on his face. Kartik Tyagi, the right-arm pacer of the franchise, was also puzzled by the spider. Their bowling coach, Tim Southee, along with head coach Abhishek Nayar, had experienced the same fate.

Knight Riders’ opening batter, Tim Seifert, was better than others, along with Manish Pandey and Zimbabwe pacer Blessing Muzarabani. Their mentor, Dwayne Bravo, didn’t open the box, while Varun Chakravarthy wasn’t even surprised at all.

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‘Oh my god’ was the reply of Rachin Ravindra while opening the box, while Cameron Green was literally scared by the spider coming out of the box.

KKR starts IPL 2026 campaign with defeat vs MI

Knight Riders posted a massive score of 220 runs for the loss of four wickets in their allotted 20 overs. Captain Rahane blasted a fine knock of 67 runs in 40 balls with the help of three boundaries and five sixes at a strike rate of 167.50, while Finn Allen cracked 37 runs in 17 balls. Angkrish Raghuvanshi nailed 51 runs in 29 balls with six fours and a couple of sixes.

Mumbai, in reply, completed the chase in 19.1 overs. Their wicket-keeper opener, Ryan Rickelton, drilled 81 runs in 43 balls with four fours and eight sixes. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma nailed 78 runs in 38 balls, thanks to six boundaries and as many sixes.