IPL 2018: Ajinkya Rahane Excited Ahead of Eliminator Against Kolkata Knight Riders

Ajinkya Rahane, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper is definitely excited ahead of their eliminator clash against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). He has led a depleted Rajasthan Royals unit to the playoffs.

In the absence of big players like Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, Rajasthan managed to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their must-win the encounter.

“We are happy the way we have played so far but it is important that we take one step at a time now. Playoffs will be a different game, you can’t afford any mistake,” Economic Times quotes Rahane as saying.

The top-order batsman Rahane believes it would be an exciting game for Royals to feature at iconic Eden Gardens.

“Playing against Kolkata at Eden Gardens will be special for all of us. KKR have a good team — Dinesh Karthik is in form and leading the team well. But we would rather play to our strengths than thinking too much about them,” added Rahane.

Through Rahane’s added responsibility as a skipper has brought down his batting performances quite considerably than the previous years. His calm and composed demeanour has helped Rajasthan as a team.

“I enjoyed this new role. Yes, I didn’t perform that well. As a player you. know your role is completely different but as a captain, especially when captaining a franchise team, it is different. You have to first see what is best for the team. I think rather than scoring big runs, the 25-30 (runs) that’s useful to the team is better,” says Rahane.

Also Read: IPL 2018: Eliminator – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals – Rajasthan Royals Predicted XI

“T20 is always going to be a roller-coaster ride. You tend to need three or four games to find the right combination, and it wasn’t just us. We got our combination right, just that it didn’t click earlier. We got our combination right, just that it didn’t click earlier. We got the momentum after five or six games, and our belief and attitude on the field changed for good,” he asserted.

Rahane’s take on Buttler and his change of batting position 

“I started as an opener. Then I moved to No 3 or 4 as we felt that Jos (Buttler) needed that one innings. And I think he did really well at top of the order so we didn’t want to change his batting order,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rahane will be leading the Indian side in the One-off Test against Afghanistan in the absence of their regular skipper Virat Kohli.

“It’s a big challenge. You cannot take it lightly irrespective of the team you are playing against. Opponents don’t matter — we should improve our cricket, we should play with the same attitude. Our intensity on the field will matter,” he said.

In addition, Ajinkya Rahane went on to prove that donning the Indian jersey means a lot for him. He will rather don the Indian jersey and play at any position required for his team.

Also Read: IPL 2018: Eliminator – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals – Rajasthan Royals Predicted XI