NEW DELHI: The dejection on Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane’s face was clear as his side slumped to yet another defeat as they lost to Chennai Super Kings by 32 runs in an IPL 2026 match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday. After the loss, Rahane shook hands with the players, congratulated the CSK camp and then headed straight to talk to the TV stations.KKR have had a tough season so far and are currently languishing at the bottom of the table.They are yet to win in five games, with four losses and one draw. With just one point and a net rate of -1.383, KKR are in a significant position in the upcoming games.“I think it’s tough at the moment. Yes, we’re not winning matches, it’s tough. What’s important for all of us as a group is to stay positive, keep our heads up, our chins up, just focus on the moment,” Rahane said after the match.“Yes, we will have to sit in the dressing room, think about combinations. We will have to make some changes. Sometimes you support players, the results go your way, then that’s fine. But if the results don’t go your way, then you have to think about the combination. But other than that, I thought it was all about being positive and keeping your heads up,” he added.After posting 192/5, CSK restricted KKR to 160/7 with Noor Ahmad returning impressive figures of 4-0-21-3.Rovman Powell (31 not out) and Ramandeep Singh (35) showed resistance with a 63 run stand but it was not enough to prevent defeat.“No real momentum with the bat. Absolutely. I thought we backed off really well with the ball. 190 on that wicket was really good, especially the power they had, 70 odd runs. Then to pull back to 190 from our bowling unit was amazing work. I thought we just got 36 or 37 runs with our bat at the start, which was in the overs important. I thought they hit 36 or 37 runs, but other than that, we needed one batting deep and then we took it,” Rahane said.For KKR, Kartik Tyagi took 2/35 while Sunil Narine returned figures of 4-0-21-1.“(To Tyagi) I think all the credit goes to him. I mean he works really hard in the nets. He’s bowled really well and he’s got a lot of talent. The pace he’s playing at the moment has been amazing. So I’m really happy for him. He’s improving his skills game by game. (on their spinners) Yeah, all three spinners are seeing it really well. I think it wasn’t easy. batsmen hit big sixes unless you bowled really hard, otherwise it was easy to give it back and then go to the second side was not an easy option for the batsmen so I thought the spinners bowled really well, like I said, keep your head up and be positive and have that confidence.KKR will next face Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium on April 17.
