Ajinkya Rahane's KKR captaincy under dark clouds after RCB loss

Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the opening match of IPL 2025 played at Eden Gardens. It was the first match for Ajinkya Rahane as KKR's captain and it certainly didn't go as planned.

While Ajinkya Rahane scored a fine 56 with the bat, his captaincy wasn't impressive as RCB's batters took the attack to KKR's bowlers. Former India opener Aakash Chopra wasn't convinced with Ajinkya Rahane's decisions and slammed him for his lack of proactiveness.

Chopra feels that KKR's trump card Sunil Narine was introduced into the attack quite late and should have been brought earlier to break the opening stand between Phil Salt and Virat Kohli.

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Aakash Chopra lauds Phil Salt and Virat Kohli

Aakash Chopra took to his YouTube channel to hail RCB's opening wicket partnership. He praised the way both Salt and Kohli batted aggressively and took the game away from KKR with a flurry of fours and sixes.

"There was a question mark on (Phil) Salt's form. You can give a thumbs up with both hands there. It's another thumbs up for RCB along with Virat Kohli's excellent batting. It was Salt's assault. Two balls had to be brought back from Salt Lake. They went very far. One team's loss, another team's happiness," he mentioned.

While Phil Salt was dismissed for 56 off 31 balls, he had already provided his team a perfect start. But Kohli stayed at the other and ensured to take his team home safely in the end. Kohli remained unbeaten on 59 off 36 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes.

Both Salt and Kohli went berserk in the powerplay and made good use of some loose bowling from KKR's opening bowlers. Both the batters stitched together a partnership of 95 runs for the first wicket in just 8.3 overs.

Aakash Chopra slams Ajinkya Rahane's captaincy

While speaking in the same video, Aakash Chopra also expressed his dissatisfaction with Ajinkya Rahane'e's decision-making. The cricketer-turned-commentator slammed KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane for bringing Sunil Narine too late into the attack allowing RCB's batters to take the game away from them.

"There I felt that what I said for Rajat Patidar, it seemed the same for (Ajinkya) Rahane. Why weren't you bringing Sunil Narine? Who were you waiting for? They kept hitting but you were not bringing him. He got very late in bringing him. So Rahane missed a trick there. So thumbs down for KKR, thumbs up for RCB," Chopra added.

Sunil Narine was KKR's best bowler of the day as he returned figures of 1-27 in four overs. He was the only KKR bowler to concede runs at less than 7 runs per over as no other bowler had an economy rate of less than 10.

KKR start poorly; RCB off to a rollicking start

Kolkata Knight Riders didn't have a great day as they had a poor start to their IPL 2025 campaign. However, it is a long tournament and they will be aiming to bounce back in the second game.

They have certain match-winners in their line-up but they just couldn't turn up on the day. On the other hand, RCB had a magnificent start to their season and will be looking to carry this momentum further.