There seemed to be no end to Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) struggles in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) after they got off to another poor start against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday. After dropping Finn Allen for Tim Seifert, KKR started with the New Zealander smashing Mohammed Siraj for a four off the off side.
But the start was short as skipper Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed off the first ball to Siraj, caught by Kagiso Rabada. According to the statistics, it was Rahane’s 22nd duck in the shortest format of the game. Interestingly, 14 of Rahane’s 22 ducks in T20s have come in the IPL alone.
To make matters worse, KKR lost two more – Seifert and Angkrish Raghuvanshi – cheaply in the power play. The poor start did not go down well with frustrated KKR fans as they called for an end to Rahane’s era as KKR captain.
“Time’s up Ajinkya. Pack your bags. Rahane era must end tonight. Zero performance, zero playoff hopes and zero reason to keep him. If Rinku isn’t firing with bat or brain, let him go too. But first get Rahane off the captain’s armband before the next game. Enough is enough,” commented one Twitter user X (form).
“Ajinkya Rahane to captain T20 in @IPL the premier cricket league on the planet in 2026. What are your intentions @KKRiders? What is his future in T20 cricket? Do you see him returning to the national team?” said another.
Questions were also directed at KKR CEO Venky Mysore regarding the sacking of IPL 2024-winning captain Shreyas Iyer. “It’s high time to ask Venky Mysore why he let go of Shreyas Iyer and made Ajinkya Rahane captain. We will lose every match. @KKRiders,” the user wrote.
Earlier Rahane won the toss and elected to bat first against Gujarat Titans. While Seifert was KKR’s only change, the hosts went with an unchanged team that had won matches in their previous two matches.
GT vs KKR playing XI
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill(c), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler(w), Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Ashok Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Tim Seifert, Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi.
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