Ajinkya Rahane Pinpoints Reason Behind Miserable IPL 2025 Campaign: "2-3 Players Not..."

NDTV

26-05-2025

It's never easy to do a proper dissection of where things went wrong in a season, especially after suffering one of the biggest defeats by margin of runs in an IPL game. But Ajinkya Rahane, skipper of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), stepped up to address where things didn't click for them in an underwhelming season ending with a crushing 110-run defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Rahane admitted that the batting order being consistently inconsistent in the season, especially with two-three players not in their prime, hurt them big time as a batting unit.
It's further illustrated by the fact that Rahane ended up as KKR's leading run-getter in IPL 2025 – with 390 runs from 13 games. The second-best run-getter turned out to be Angkrish Raghuvanshi with 300 runs in 12 games.
'See, sometimes what happens is, when you have a couple of good seasons as an individual, you put a lot of expectation and pressure on yourself. I feel that was the case for most of the batters to prove how good I am, and it is completely natural. As a human being, when you are doing well and you had a couple of good seasons, it's very normal to have those expectations from yourself and also from the people.'
'I'm sure players, our boys, will learn from the mistakes, as there was lots to learn from this season. As a team, not for any particular individual, but for everyone. So many learnings from this season, but it can happen to any player. Unfortunately, 2-3 players were going through that phase for us, and that was the reason we couldn't do well in our batting unit.'
'But again, they are pretty much experienced enough to handle this situation. I'm sure they will come back stronger next year. That's why I said, when you have those expectations on yourself, you unknowingly put pressure whenever you go on to bat or when you bowl. So I'm sure Rinku, Raman, all the players, they will learn from the mistakes and come back stronger,' said Rahane in the post-match press conference.
There was a school of thought that Rahane should have opened the batting for KKR, considering he donned the same role for Mumbai and became the leading run-getter in the side winning the 2024/25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with 469 runs in eight innings at a strong strike rate of 164.
But with Sunil Narine having great success as an opener in their IPL 2024 win and Quinton de Kock being a specialist opener, Rahane stated he and Raghuvanshi took up middle-order roles. It's a different matter that despite some tweaks, KKR never had a fifty-run opening stand.
'See, we had those discussions. For me, it's always about the team. I can easily tell the management staff that I want to open. But you have to see the combination, and which batter can bat where. I thought, me and Angkrish, we can easily adapt to 3-4 situations, or he batted at 5 sometimes. Sunny had a very good season last year. We didn't want to change that.'
'Coming to the Championship, we didn't want to change too many things. Plus, Quinton, he is basically an opener. He cannot bat at the different number 3 or 4. So we thought, Angkrish and I, if we can bat those numbers 3 and 4, that will be good for us. We are just talking because those things didn't go our way, and that was the difference.'
'So I feel number 3 was ideal for me. If you ask me, I would love to open. I did really well in Mushtaq Ali Trophy. I did well when opening the team, opening the batting. But it's always about the team - what team needs, then wants from you, and what are the combinations you are looking at,' he elaborated.
Before the start of the tournament, all eyes were on how Venkatesh Iyer would fare for KKR, especially after the franchise brought him back for a whopping Rs 23.75 crore in last year's auction. Iyer was also announced as KKR's vice-captain, but it didn't save him from having a poor season – 142 runs in 11 innings, and picking up a hand injury. Rahane dismissed concerns that Iyer wilted under pressure of a hefty price tag.
'See, what I can say is, if a player gets 20 plus crores, or 1/2/3/4 crores, your attitude doesn't change on the field, and that's what matters. As a player, you only focus on the controllable things. I feel, Venkatesh Iyer was actually focusing on the controllable things. He was practising hard, trying his best, even during the games, whichever matches he played before getting injured. I thought he did really well.'
'It's just that, for us, as a team, 3-4 guys were out of form. That was the only reason I thought why we struggled this year. But your attitude doesn't change. Someone's not going to work doubly harder if he's getting 20 plus crores, or someone's not going to work less harder when he's getting 1, 2, 3 crores.'
'Whatever it is, for us cricketers, it's always about following what is the things which we have in our hands, and the attitude. I thought his attitude was fantastic. He was always looking to contribute for the team on and off the field. One-off season, that can happen to any player. So it's not about the price tag. I don't think he was thinking about his price tag at all. But it's just one of those seasons that we had to go through,' he elaborated.
While the batters' didn't click as a cohesive unit, Rahane did praise the bowlers for their overall show, though they were taken for cleaners by SRH's batters, as they posted a mammoth 278/3. With Varun Chakravarthy and Vaibhav Arora finished with 17 wickets each, seam-bowling all-rounder Harshit Rana picked 15 scalps.
'It was kind of a mixed thing for our bowlers. Harshit has been doing really well. He has done well for the franchise, went to the Indian team, did well there as well. Sometimes it's really challenging for a player who's playing at the highest level, high intensity games and coming after, immediately and coming here to do well. It's not an excuse, but again, as a player, that was a challenge for us.'
'Varun did well in the Champions Trophy - high intensity tournament. Sometimes that takes toll on your body and mind as well. I thought throughout the season, as a bowling unit, we did really well. Where we faltered slightly short was at the batting end, as collectively, we couldn't do well.'
'One or two odd games in this format, some bowlers will go for runs, but that's fine. As long as the thinking was clear from them, that was really important. I thought Harshit, Vaibhav, Varun, Sunny, all the bowlers who have played, their thinking was really clear. So, as a bowling unit, I thought we did decently well than our batting.'
Rahane signed off by lamenting KKR's inability to win close games in the mid-way stage of the tournament. 'This season was kind of an up and down one. We had our moments and chances in couple of games, but we didn't play really well in close matches as a unit. But again, this format, that's how it goes. If you win close matches, those are the difference.'
'Games against Punjab Kings, LSG and CSK - I thought those 2-3 games would have been slightly different. But what I saw, felt and thought as a captain, the preparation wise, everyone tried their best. It's not that easy when you win a championship and come into the next season for defending the championship. As a team, we tried our best, but what I can say is we'll come back really strong the next year.'
Listen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com