Three Big Reasons for Kolkata Knight Riders's Defeat: In the first match of IPL 2025, Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 7 wickets. The KKR team came out to bat after losing the toss. Captain Ajinkya Rahane, along with Sunil Narayan, shared a 103 -run partnership for the second wicket. But KKR's finisher could not redeem this beginning. Chasing a target of 175 runs, Virat Kohli and Phil Salat shared a 95 -run partnership for the first wicket. RCB won by 7 wickets by achieving the target with 22 balls.
1- Middle order flop show
Quinton Dickock was dismissed for 4 runs but after that captain Ajinkya Rahane and Sunil Narayan together gave KKR a bang. Both shared a 103 -run partnership for the second wicket. Rahane scored his half -century in 25 balls, scoring 39 runs in 16 balls in the powerplay. Sunil Narayan was dismissed for 44 runs and then Ajinkya Rahane returned to the pavilion after playing a good innings of 56 runs. But after this KKR's middle order flopped completely.
Venkatesh Iyer (4) sold for 23 crore 75 lakhs was dismissed cheaply by Krunal Pandya. Big hitters like Rinku Singh (12), Andre Russell (4) flopped completely. Russell was bowled by Suyash and Rinku Singh was bowled by Krunal. KKR scored 67 runs in the last 10 overs while KKR scored 107 runs in the first 10 overs.
2- Sending Andre Russell up
Sending Andre Russell for batting up did not prove to be right. We know that he is a big hitter and his unbeaten is encouraged among other batsmen. Russell came after finishing 15 overs. He was bowled in the process of hitting a big hit off Suyash Sharma. Before him Ramandeep Singh could be sent, who came after Russell's dismissal. He could not withstand the pressure.
3-Rahane's poor captaincy
Ajinkya Rahane's poor captaincy also became a major reason for defeat. Virat Kohli is always difficult against Sunil Narayan but Rahane did not give him a ball in the initial overs. The result was that both RCB openers kept scoring runs easily. In the powerplay itself, the RCB opening pair scored 80 runs without losing wickets, which made the target easier. Rahane did not give Narayan over in the powerplay. The 8th over was Narayan's first over in the match, before that RCB scored 86 runs in 7 overs.
Harshit Rana also had a great performance in International, but he too was put to bowl by captain Rahane in the last over of the powerplay. Harshit gave only 5 runs but after this Rahane gave Narayan bowling in his place. In the 13th over, Harshit was given the ball, which was his second over but by then it was too late.
