Five matches over and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are still in search of their first win in the ongoing IPL 2026 season. Under the leadership of Ajinkya Rahane, the team is simply not coming together; the body language of the players is evidence of an underperforming team.
Last night, when Ramandeep Singh and Rovman Powell were on the crease, they came focused multiple times on the Knight dug-out. Head coach Abhishek Nayar and captain Ajinkya Rahane were involved in a discussion. Rahane was visibly under pressure. The other support staff of the team, like Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo, and Tim Southee, were sitting in the back row.
KKR’s batting is also under scrutiny
The snub of Mustafizur Rahman, the injuries of Harshit Rana, Akash Deep, and the absence of Matheesha Pathirana definitely dent the original plan of the franchise for the 2026 season. Mostly, the bowling department of the team is currently mostly relying on a less-experienced pacer bowling department. Sunil Narine may be the only one who has been delivering economical spells. His spin bowling partner, Varun Chakravarthy, has also been struggling with a bad patch for a week now.
But what’s wrong with the batting department? For the batting works, they have the prolific batters like Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Ramandeep Singh, and Anukul Roy in their playing combination, along with multiple proven and exciting talents who are warming the bench. With a strongly built batting order, they are struggling to show intent while batting as well.
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Mohammad Kaif compares Andre Russell and Cameron Green
After the Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders match on April 14, former Team India cricketer Mohammad Kaif pointed out a serious issue inside the Purple camp. According to Kaif, utilising Andre Russell as the “power coach” does not make sense for him. He felt that Russell could do a lot better on the field than the INR 25 crore valued Australian all-rounder Cameron Green.
“Probably the biggest mistake KKR made this season was to make Andre Russell the coach and not use him as a bowler. The ploy of keeping him in the KKR dugout and not letting other franchises buy him at auction hasn’t worked. Isn’t he still a better all-rounder than the Rs 25 cr Cameron Green? The answer is obvious:” Mohammad Kaif wrote this ‘X’ post on April 15.
Probably the biggest mistake KKR made this season was to make Andre Russell the coach and not use him as an-rounder. The ploy of keeping him in the KKR dug out and not letting other franchises buy him at auction hasn’t worked. Isn’t he still a better all-rounder than the Rs 25…
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) April 14, 2026
Knight Riders will next face the Gujarat Titans
Last night, the Knight Riders suffered a 32-run defeat against the Chennai Super Kings. With the fourth win, the three-time IPL winners are not at the bottom-most position of the IPL 2026 points table with only 1 point and a highly negative run rate of -1.383.
KKR’s next match will be against the Gujarat Titans on April 17 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Gujarat will be the favorite to win the match as they have secured two back-to-back wins in their previous IPL 2026 games.
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