KKR Told To Drop Ajinkya Rahane As India Great Suggests New Captain: “Wrong Move”

It has been a horrible campaign for Kolkata Knight Riders till now in the IPL 2026. The Ajinkya Rahane-led side has not a single match till now and their only point in this year’s competition came thanks to their match against Punjab Kings getting washed out. They are struggling at the bottom of the points table and the players as well as team management has been facing criticism from both fans as well as experts. Although they have played just five games in IPL 2026, the management has already made multiple changes to their lineup with Rahane demoting himself in the batting order during their last game against Chennai Super Kings. Amid the mounting pressure, legendary India batter Kris Srikkanth urged the KKR management to look beyond Rahane as captain and even suggested an alternative ahead of their match against Gujarat Titans on Friday.

Rahane has scored 152 runs in IPL 2026 till now and his strike rate beyond the powerplay has taken a massive hit. Srikkanth said that the veteran India star should be given one or two chances at best and if he continues to disappoint, he should be replaced with Sunil Narine as captain.

Besides Rahane, he also suggested a couple of changes in the playing XI and said that KKR should open with New Zealand international Rachin Ravindra.

“I’ll give Ajinkya Rahane one or two chances more. If nothing changes, I’ll drop him also and make Sunil Narine the captain midway through the season. Rahane should come into bat only if necessary. Else let him only captain the side. He shouldn’t bat in the middle. 20. Making him the captain was the wrong move in the first place. But do they have the courage to make a strong move of dropping him now?” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.

“They should drop Find Allen and Cameron Green. Bring in Rachin Ravindra and Pathirana. They can open with Rachin Ravindra and Rahane. That’ll balance the team. But their support staff itself looks better than the actual players they have,” he added.

Srikkanth also took aim at Rinku Singh who has struggling to score runs at No. 5 for KKR and said that with the exception of Kartik Tyagitheir bowling attack has looked extremely lacklustre till now.

“They also have no chance with this bowling and batting. Vaibhav Arora consistently concedes 55 runs off 4 overs. What will you do with him as your main strike bowler? Rinku Singh never scores,” said Srikkanth.“He can’t play at 5. If it’s 40 needed off the last 3 to 4 overs, he will do that job. Otherwise, he can’t do anything. Kartik Tyagi is the one guy doing well,” he concluded.

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