Rain didn’t allow the Kolkata Knight Riders some much-needed practice at Eden Gardens on Tuesday evening.

The Knights’ next match is against Lucknow Super Giants on Thursday. The Rishabh Pant-led team had a nets session in the afternoon but just as the Knight Riders started their practice under lights, the weather intervened.

Sunil Narine, who didn’t play in the rain-abandoned tie against Punjab Kings on Monday, bowled a few deliveries before having to rush back into the dressing room. Varun Chakravarthy was also present at the ground and was getting ready to send down a few overs when the covers were pulled on.

Narine was out of the playing XI on Monday because of illness while Varun had injured his hand while taking a catch in the deep against Sunrisers Hyderabad earlier last week.

It is likely that both Varun and Narine will play on Thursday unless the wicket and conditions are heavily loaded in favour of the pacers. Arshdeep Singh and Xavier Bartlett got enough lateral movement to trouble KKR’s batters in the 3.4 overs that were possible on Monday.

The last time KKR played a match without either of their mystery spinners was in 2019.

Varun’s form has been a major worry for KKR. It had troubled India during the recently concluded T20 World Cup too, where the batters could easily pick his variations. He gave away 64 in his four overs in the semi-final against England.

In two IPL appearances, Varun has bowled just six overs, conceding 79 runs without a wicket.