Ajinkya Rahane’s KKR Captaincy To Be Snatched After Just 1 Match In IPL 2025

Ajinkya Rahane’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captaincy debut proved to be a dud as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated them by 7 wickets with ease in the IPL 2025 tournament opener. This match was played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on March 22, Saturday.

Ajinkya Rahane batted a brilliant 56, but his leadership was lackluster as the RCB batsmen attacked the KKR spinners. Aakash Chopra, the former opener for India, criticized Ajinkya Rahane for his lack of initiative and expressed dissatisfaction with his choices.

To break the opening stand between Phil Salt and Virat Kohli, Chopra believes that Sunil Narine, KKR's trump card, should have been brought into the attack sooner rather than later.

Aakash Chopra slams Ajinkya Rahane's captaincy

Aakash Chopra, on his YouTube channel, voiced his displeasure with the choices made by Ajinkya Rahane. The former cricket player who is now a commentator blasted KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane for letting RCB's batting win the game by introducing Sunil Narine into the attack too late.

"There I felt that what I said for Rajat Patidar, it seemed the same for (Ajinkya) Rahane. Why weren't you bringing Sunil Narine? Who were you waiting for? They kept hitting but you were not bringing him. He got very late in bringing him. So Rahane missed a trick there. So thumbs down for KKR, thumbs up for RCB," Chopra stated.

Sunil Narine recorded figures of 1-27 in four overs, making him KKR's best bowler of the day. Since no other bowler had an economy rate below 10, he was the only one for the KKR to give up runs at fewer than 7 runs per over.

Virat Kohli and Phil Salt’s assault lauded by Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra praised the RCB's opening wicket partnership on his YouTube channel. With a barrage of fours and sixes, he took the game away from KKR and commended Salt and Kohli for their aggressive batting.

Salt and Kohli annhiliate KKR

In the powerplay, Salt and Kohli both went crazy and took advantage of some of KKR's opening bowlers' wayward deliveries. In just 8.3 overs, the two hitters put together a partnership of 95 runs for the first wicket.

"There was a question mark on (Phil) Salt's form. You can give a thumbs up with both hands there. It's another thumbs up for RCB along with Virat Kohli's excellent batting. It was Salt's assault. Two balls had to be brought back from Salt Lake. They went very far. One team's loss, another team's happiness," he mentioned.

Phil Salt gave his team a perfect start before being removed for 56 off 31 balls. However, Kohli remained at the other and made sure his team eventually made it home safely. At 59 from 36 balls with four fours and three sixes, Kohli was still undefeated.

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