It's tough to chase a challenging total without at least one big partnership and that was missing for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their first home game of the IPL 2026 season, where they went down by 65 runs in pursuit of Sunrisers Hyderabad's (SRH) 226. Ajinkya Rahane said as much after the game, saying KKR "needed to take it deep", while also defending his own approach with the bat.
KKR's innings lacked any half-century stand and two of their main batters - Cameron Green and Angkrish Raghuvanshi - getting run-out only compounded their woes as they were skittled for 161 in only 16 overs.
"We needed a couple of big partnerships, guys who were set, they needed to take it deep," the KKR captain said. "In batting, when you are chasing a target you need that partnership. We couldn't get that. In the second innings, the slower balls were slightly stopping [in the pitch], the slower balls were gripping a lot more than the first innings. We thought the wicket would get better but the ball was stopping.
"But, no excuses. We got a good start. In the first six overs, we were 78 [74] but lost that one extra wicket, Greeny's run out. Apart from that we were going really well. The middle overs were the crucial time for us and we needed those partnerships from the set batters and that just didn't happen. SRH executed the slower balls and the angles they used were really good."
Rahane himself scored only eight runs in his first nine balls before top-edging a Jaydev Unadkat slower ball. He struggled to find the gaps or put the ball away when facing the spin of Harsh Dubey and Abhishek Sharma in the powerplay, something SRH used possibly to counter Rahane's strength against seam bowling.
As such, since IPL 2023, only Abhishek (176.56) has a better strike rate than Rahane (167.78) in the powerplay among Indians (with a cut-off of 250 balls faced). The issue for Rahane is that it drops after the field restrictions end. On "certain critics" criticising Rahane about his strike rate, he said he wasn't going to pay heed to them.
"My strike rate... I have the best strike rate so far, from 2023. People who are talking are probably not watching the game or have a certain agenda against me," Rahane said. "They don't like me playing. They don't like to watch me play. The amount of success I've got, I guess they're jealous about that.
"I'm not too worried, yaar. My intent was there. Sometimes as a batter you don't get the rhythm or the flow. People who are talking either don't understand the game or they want me to play a different kind of innings. They didn't expect that Ajinkya Rahane would improve his game this much. I am happy they are talking about me - negative or positive. Let them talk. But partnering Finn Allen, it has been very good. The first six overs you need to look to play fearless cricket with freedom. At times you will struggle, that's okay, it's important to accept.
"But I know what I'm doing, I know what I've done in the past, and I back myself instead of thinking about what others are saying. Whoever are talking about it, let them talk."
With two defeats in their first two games now - only the second time in KKR's history have they had such a poor start to a season - the team will have to bounce back quickly with games coming thick and fast at home. Punjab Kings visit them on April 6 and Lucknow Super Giants come on April 9.
"Winning home games is really important and we just have to go back to the drawing board, just think about our combinations," Rahane said. "If we can get an extra batter in our line-up, we will have to think about that. We have got three to four days. We don't want to think too much. Guys are doing really well. Just one off game with the bat. Last game [against Mumbai Indians] we did really well [with the bat]. Just needed those small partnerships [in this one]."