IPL 2025: KKR's damp squib of a season

Hindustan Times

18-05-2025

Kolkata: Their fate out of their hands for some time, defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) were eliminated from IPL 2025 when rain washed out their must-win match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Bengaluru on Saturday.
It was the second time that KKR were dealt a cruel hand by the weather, the first being the match against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at Eden Gardens that was abandoned halfway due to rain and storm. That no-result, following successive defeats, meant KKR had to win their remaining matches and hope for a string of results to go their way. For all the positivity skipper Ajinkya Rahane exuded after snatching defeat from victory against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), it would always prove to be a bit much. Especially in a format where matches turn in one over, think KKR-CSK.
There is usually more than one reason why performance does not meet potential in a league. Arsenal did not lose the Premier League only because of injuries to key players. But it also showed that the squad lacked depth and that was on the club. That Arsenal failed to win 10 matches where they led is on the manager and the players. That they played six matches with 10 players is also down to the conduct of their players.
So with KKR and their inability to defend the title for the third time. It is always a sign of things not going to plan when a team has to depend on things they cannot control. And things not going to plan encapsulated KKR's campaign this season. It showed in the two-wicket defeat to CSK, in the one-run win against Rajasthan Royals (RR) and in the batting collapses against Mumbai Indians (MI) and PBKS.
The 16-run defeat to PBKS was possibly the lowest point of the campaign. Win handsomely and they would have been on top of the table. At 62/2 chasing 112, that looked possible. But a terrible lack of batting smarts and Yuzvendra Chahal's guile led to a defeat that Ian Bishop on commentary said could be season-defining. Till then, Chahal was struggling. Since then, the leg-spinner has got a hattrick.
Taken in conjunction with the collapse against MI and meandering to a 39-run defeat against Gujarat Titans, it highlighted KKR's struggle with the bat. Not a single 50-run opening partnership tells its own story. On way to their third title, openers Sunil Narine and Phil Salt had notched up five of them and posted one century stand. KKR have one 100-plus stand this term and one in the 90s, leaders Gujarat Titans have three and one in the 90s. In second place, RCB have two three-figure partnerships and three in the 90s, Virat Kohli featuring in all of them. 'T20 is not only about hitting sixes and big shot,' Rahane has said. Kohli, for whom many in crowd had worn his Test whites on Saturday, is an embodiment of that.
Rahane was KKR's most consistent batter but got little support as Venkatesh Iyer, who got 370 runs with four half-centuries last term, struggled for form and in trying to hit his way out of trouble found different ways of getting out. And because of instability at the top, KKR's attacking batters (Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh) rarely got the platform to express themselves.
It may have affected KKR's thinking which showed in getting Chetan Sakariya for one game. And as the season went on, it certainly affected their bowling. Against RR and CSK respectively, KKR had half the opposition out with 120 and 135 to get but won one match by one run and lost the other. The pace attack lacked bite and that meant teams could play out Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. That two of the top five most expensive overs were bowled by KKR summed up their bowling woes.