Bangladesh’s ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan will play his first game in this year’s Indian Premier League when he walks out for Kolkata Knight Riders against Gujarat Lions at 8:30pm (Bangladesh time) tonight.

Gujarat skipper Suresh Raina won the toss at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and elected to field first. Shakib replaced New Zealand all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme in the playing eleven. Former champions Kolkata have won three of their four matches in this year’s edition of the lucrative T20 tournament.

Shakib had gone to Kolkata directly from Bangladesh’s tour of Sri Lanka, where the world’s number one all-rounder in all three formats played a starring role with bat and ball in Bangladesh’s drawn series in the Test, ODI and T20I series. He ended the tour with a man-of-the-match performance in the second and last T20I at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

However, after going to Kolkata, Shakib found himself on the bench in the first three matches.