Has Kolkata Knight Riders’ decision to open the innings with Ajinkya Rahane muddled up their batting order? Should the Knights get Finn Allen to begin with Sunil Narine or Tim Seifert?
As KKR crashed to their second defeat in as many matches on Thursday, their captain managed just eight in his first nine balls before top-edging a Jaydev Unadkat slower one.
Questions have been raised about his strike-rate and Rahane has sprung to his defence by accusing critics of having a “certain agenda” against him.
While Rahane has a strike-rate of 170.53 in the Powerplay since 2023, it has dropped to 125 in the middle overs during the same period. During their opener against Mumbai Indians, he scored 36 off 18 balls in the first six overs and then only 31 off the next 22.
Rahane’s best strike-rate in the IPL has been 172.48 in 14 matches when he batted at No. 4 for Chennai Super Kings in 2023. Whenever he has opened the innings, his strike-rate has hovered below the 145 mark.
But will KKR dare to drop him down the order in their next few matches? His numbers post the Powerplay are quite alarming.
While he has been quite proficient in scoring against the pacers, he has struggled to open the field when up against the spinners. Since 2023, his strike-rate has been 155 in overs 7-15 against pace, while it has dropped to 114 against spin during the same period.
Narine, who came in at No. 8 slammed 12 off 4 balls on Thursday, including two sixes off his first two deliveries. He could have escaped getting caught at long-on if he was batting in the Powerplay.
The Knights’ team management will face a tricky call in their next two home matches — against Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants.
It’s not just about his batting, his captaincy too has had its pitfalls. He didn’t bowl Varun Chakravarthy after two overs at a time when he seemed to have regained his rhythm somewhat. Abhishek Sharma had smashed the mystery spinner for 25 runs in the fifth over of the innings, but Varun then gave away only six in his second over.
Rahane, though, relied on Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi and Blessing Muzarabani in the slog overs. “Sometimes, bowling just two overs can help a player. Or one over... We want Varun’s confidence throughout the tournament,” he tried to justify.
Getting Varun to bowl inside the Powerplay was also not beyond condemnation. Knowing well that Abhishek and Travis Head would go hammer and tongs against someone low on confidence, he could have tried him out against a new batter at the fall of a wicket.
Bowlers often demand such support from a captain. Seven sixes in that innings came in the Powerplay, and only two outside that. Testing Varun with more men in the deep could have fetched better results.
Struggles with the bat often reflect on captaincy and Rahane is not alien to such patterns. If KKR fail in their next two home matches, questions are bound to crop up on his leadership. Should they hand over the mantle to Rinku Singh before it’s too late?
“This is not the end of the world for us,” Rahane said in his dressing room speech. Perhaps such belief could trigger a turnaround in his fortunes.