Former BCCI selector K Srikkanth believes that Ajinkya Rahane is of no use for Kolkata Knight Riders as he cannot attack or open the innings for his team. This shocking comment came just before KKR’s first match against Mumbai Indians, which will be played today.
After the surprise release of Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane was made the captain of the team considering his maturity, experience and the games he has played in the IPL. However, he failed to perform as expected and finished 8th in the points table last time out.
Can Ajinkya Rahane become a big problem for KKR?
Ajinkya Rahane is one of the most experienced players and senior player of the team. Due to this, he was handed the role of captaining an entirely new team full of young players. His years of domestic experience, international cricket and IPL will really benefit the young team. However, it is not yet clear how he will perform this season after failing to perform last season by scoring only 390 runs at an average of 35 in 13 matches.
Talking about Rahane’s performance, Srikkanth said, “Ajinkya Rahane is going to be a big problem for them. Coming in and opening, he is going to block that spot. He is playing because he is the captain. If you think about it, he can neither break the bowling nor handle the innings like Virat Kohli. He surprised us in 2023, but even before that, he did not perform well for a long time.” It was the missing link for KKR.”
Ajinkya Rahane has represented 6 teams out of 18 editions of IPL so far in his IPL career, where he has crossed the 5000-run mark in 198 IPL matches at an average of 30.
KKR captaincy dilemma: Srikkanth criticizes players’ form
Being the captain of the team, it is clear that he will be a part of the playing eleven. However, what everyone is concerned about is what contribution he will make for KKR as a batsman, as he failed to perform in both the formats last year. Rahane’s limited range of shots early in the innings is unlikely to help KKR in the powerplay, where they need someone who can attack from the first ball along with Sunil Narine.
Rahane takes time to settle down and even then, he has a very limited repertoire of shots against the bowlers, which is not suitable for the demands of modern T20 cricket. Today, players must have power-hitting ability and even those who did not have it earlier, such as Virat Kohli, have changed their game.
“He is playing and probably opening only because he essentially has to play as captain. Last year too, he did not perform very well for KKR. He is playing as a captain, but what value is he going to add as a player? He did brilliantly for CSK in 2023 and led them to the title. But in the last two years, he has not done anything good. KKR is stuck here,” Srikkanth. Said (via the above source).
Ajinkya Rahane’s form against Mumbai Indians
Despite being out of form recently, Ajinkya Rahane holds an impressive record against Mumbai Indians. In 28 matches against MI, Rahane has scored over 700 runs at an average of over 30, including five 50+ scores. This shows that he has the ability to perform against one of the strongest franchises in the IPL.
Also read: Manish Pandey joins Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma in the list of legendary players of IPL.
