Kolkata Knight Riders’ slide in the 2026 Indian Premier League continued with another home loss last week, as they were beaten by Sunrisers Hyderabad. After a second successive defeat, KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane did not dress up the result with excuses, even though he acknowledged the side’s inability to forge a meaningful stand. He also defended his own batting approach, insisting that the criticism aimed at his form has not been properly grounded in what has happened on the field.
In the chase of 227 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata’s batting collapsed to 161 all out in 16 overs, leaving little room for any settled partnerships. Rahane contributed eight runs from nine balls, but his innings ended when he edged a slower delivery from Jaydev Unadkat. The bigger theme was how early pressure shaped the contest: Ishan Kishan leaned on Harsh Dubey and Abhishek Sharma in the opening phase, using spin to expose a weakness before the required acceleration could be built. Rahane, in particular, found spin difficult to negotiate as the innings progressed.
Despite the 65-run defeat, Rahane responded sharply when reporters questioned his performance. He argued that his current numbers do not match the narrative being pushed around his strike rate. “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. He added, “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.”
Those comments—especially the references to an “agenda” and “jealousy”—sparked plenty of debate online. But Rahane’s claim about having the “best strike rate” since 2023 also opened up a wider discussion around his output in the IPL. Among 55 batters who have scored at least 2000 runs in the league, Rahane’s overall career strike rate of 125.32 places him 48th. Looking strictly at his “last three years” period, his strike rate of 147.78 ranks 33rd among players who have faced a minimum of 400 balls since 2023.
Still, Rahane’s argument is not entirely without substance. The 37-year-old had a noticeable revival during his stint with Chennai Super Kings in 2023, accumulating 326 runs across 11 innings at a strike rate of 172.48—his best IPL season—and that form also earned him another call-up to India’s Test team. Since that point, he has sustained a strike rate of 147.78. Even in KKR’s 2026 opener against Mumbai Indians, he scored 67 at a strike rate of 150, showing that his ability to find momentum has continued.
A major part of that upturn has come in the powerplay. Since IPL 2023, only Abhishek Sharma (176.56) has a higher strike rate than Rahane (167.78) among Indian batters who have faced at least 250 deliveries in that phase. The trend strengthens further when the lens is narrowed to since 2025, where Rahane’s powerplay strike rate rises to 181—second only to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (214) and ahead of Abhishek (188) against the new ball. The captain’s aggression early has been productive not only in IPL cricket, where he has been KKR’s leading run-getter since 2025, but also in domestic competition. For Mumbai, he topped the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with 391 runs at a strike rate of 161.57.
However, the picture looks different once the match moves beyond the initial overs. Rahane’s powerplay strike rate has varied across seasons—208 in 2023, 127 in 2024, 187 in 2025 (a run that included 15 sixes), and 157 across the first two matches this season—but the acceleration does not translate as smoothly after field restrictions loosen. That middle-overs drop was visible in 2025 as well: his powerplay strike rate of 187.40 fell sharply to 110.94 once he had less freedom. A similar pattern appeared in this season’s game against Mumbai, when he struck at 200 during the powerplay—scoring 36 off 18 balls—before adding only 31 runs off the next 22 deliveries, with his strike rate dropping from 200 to 140.9.
The consistent issue behind that decline has been his struggles against spin. Since 2025, Rahane has been dismissed nine times in 159 balls against spin in T20 cricket, producing a strike rate of 120.8. Eight of those dismissals have arrived in the middle overs, where his strike rate remains almost the same at 122.9—an area KKR will be eager to improve if they are to stop defeats from stacking up in 2026.
