Ajinkya Rahane has taken responsibility for his side’s defeat in the IPL 2025 game between Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings on April 15.
Kolkata failed to chase down 112 runs against Shreyas Iyer-led side in Mullanpur as the side lost all 10 wickets for scoring 95 runs. However, Ajinkya Rahane has taken the blame for his side’s failure facing 12 run defeat.
However, he called it ‘a collective failure of the batting unit.’ Rahane said that his batters were pretty reckless with their shots in going after a chaseable target.
Speaking after the defeat, Rahane said, “Nothing to expect. You all saw what happened there. Pretty disappointed with the effort,” Rahane said immediately after the match.
“I’ll take the blame. As the captain of the team, I played the wrong shot even though it [the ball] was missing [the stumps]. But again, it started from there.
“We batted really badly as a batting unit, and we take full responsibility as a batting unit. I thought bowlers did really well on the surface, restricting a strong Punjab batting line-up to 111.”
He also spoke about Punjab bowling unit saying, “It’s not like Punjab bowled very well. I think we played bad cricket as a batting unit. I take this responsibility as a captain that we couldn’t chase this down.”
“But individually, I’m sure, all the players, especially the batters, will think about their own game and improve in the upcoming matches.”
After the game, former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif criticised Rahane for the blunder, asking him to stop being a ‘team man’ and rather be ‘selfish’ sometimes.
“High time Rahane the team man becomes a bit selfish. He should realise, he is KKR’s main batsman, he needs to take DRS if there is slightest of doubts.#KKRvPBKS,” he tweeted.
High time Rahane the team man becomes a bit selfish. He should realise, he is KKR’s main batsman, he needs to take DRS if there is slightest of doubts.#KKRvPBKS
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) April 15, 2025
KKR has only three wins in seven games and secured 6th position of the IPL 2025 points table. Kolkata will play their next game against Gujarat Titans on April 21 at Eden Gardens.
