Following their recent loss to the Gujarat Titans, the Kolkata Knight Riders have now lost five of their eight IPL 2025 matches.
After their recent loss to the Gujarat Titans, the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders have now lost five of their eight IPL 2025 matches. The majority of their batters lacked intent when chasing 199. To begin, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) openers continued their poor run with yet another shambolic performance. During the 199-run chase against GT, opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who replaced Quinton de Kock, managed only one run before being caught by Mohammed Siraj. Sunil Narine, on the other hand, was caught by Rahul Tewatia on Rashid Khan’s delivery for 17 in 13 balls, including two fours and a six.
Then Ajinkya Rahane showed some fight by batting 50 off 36 balls. Venkatesh Iyer’s 19-ball 14 was a significant disappointment, however.So far this season, the Rs 23.75 crore purchase has taken only two major blows (45 against Lucknow Super Giants and 60 against SunRisers Hyderabad). On Monday, when Shubman Gill, an ex-KKR player, scored 90, Iyer was expected to perform, but he failed.
KKR chose Venkatesh Iyer over Shubman Gill in 2021. Four years later, Shubman Gill returns to Eden Gardens as the Gujarat Titans captain. The player they let go has returned as a global cricket superstar.
This season, the KKR opening combination has scored only 152 runs in eight innings, with an average of 19.00, the lowest of any team. In addition, their run rate of 8.44 is the second lowest among all teams, trailing only the Chennai Super Kings. They have only managed to score 46 runs as a partnership.
KKR has used four openers, including de Kock (143 runs in seven innings at an average of 23.83, strike rate of over 137.50, and a fifty), Narine (147 runs in seven innings at an average of 21.00, strike rate of 177.10), Gurbaz (one run in one match), and Moeen (five runs in one innings), all of whom have tanked for the most part.So far, the opening pair has formed partnerships of four (against Royal Challengers Bengaluru), 41 (against Rajasthan Royals), one (against Mumbai Indians), fourteen (against Sunrisers Hyderabad), 37 (against Lucknow Super Giants), 46 (against Chennai Super Kings), seven (against Punjab Kings), and two (against Gujarat Titans).
