IPL: Why is Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane losing his cool?

It may be early days in the IPL 2026, but Ajinkya Rahane is already feeling the heat as the Kolkata Knight Riders captain. After the Knights finished eighth in his first season as skipper last year, the Purple Army has failed to build an early momentum in three matches so far – logging in their only point thanks to a rain-abandoned game against Punjab Kings on Monday.

 While they will be keen to buck the trend in what would be the last of their three back-to-back matches at home against Lucknow Super Giants on Thursday, the 37-year-old has been getting hypersensitive about any criticism about his strike rate as an opener. Known to be a cool customer throughout his storied international career, Rahane blew his top at questions about his strike rate during a recent media interaction.

  The KKR captain argued that his strike rate has been among the best since 2023 (when he made a makeover to his batting style for Chennai Super Kings) and the criticism of his playing style is unfair. ‘’I think I have one of the best strike rates since 2023,’’ the former India captain told the media. ‘’People who are talking about me are probably not watching the game or they have a certain agenda against me. They don’t like me playing. They don’t like to watch me play.’’

 Jinx, as Rahane is nicknamed, had a surprise backer in former New Zealand allrounder Simon Doull. Speaking in a chat show on Cricbuzz, Doull said that Rahane’s strike rate over the past few seasons is actually better than that of Hitman Rohit Sharma with Mumbai Indians and equal to stand-in Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Ishan Kishan.

 ‘’His numbers in the last four years have not been that bad. He averages 30 and strikes at 148 over 30-odd games. People are talking about dropping him, but it’s a better record than what Rohit has had in the last four years,’’ Doull said. ‘’It’s an equal record to Ishan Kishan in the last four years. You’re not talking about dropping any of those players. Hence his frustration. But it also comes down to the pressure that comes with captaincy,’’ he added.

 ‘’The criticism started after finishing eighth last year and then getting off to a bad start this season. He is frustrated because they don’t have the tools in the toolbox. They are not doing their job and are not playing well as a group. It’s not all his fault,’’ Doull concluded.

 The spate of injuries to the bowlers whom the team management had been banking on has really put a spanner in the works – with last year’s lead pacer Harshit Rana is virtually out of the season and there is no clarity about the arrival date of Matheesa Pathirana, the slingshot bowler from Sri Lanka.

 This had forced them to forge together a rag tag pace attack while the non-inclusion of both mystery spinners Sunil Narine and Sunil Chakravarthy in the washed out match against PBKS match raised a lot of eyebrows about their form but a KKR spokesperson cleared the air on Tuesday.

‘’Sunil (Narine) had some abdominal pain but has been back in practice. Varun (Chakravarthy), meanwhile, is recovering from a finger injury,’’ the KKR official added. The think tank will be wanting them to be back in the playing XI as the bowling line-up looks exposed.

Catch the match

KKR vs LSG

Venue: Eden Gardens

Start: 7.30 pm