After a second consecutive defeat in the ongoing 2026 season of the Indian Premier League, with Kolkata Knight Riders losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad at home last week, captain Ajinkya Rahane refused to offer excuses. However, he admitted the team lacked a big partnership while also defending his own approach with the bat.
Chasing 227 at Eden Gardens, KKR were skittled for 161 in just 16 overs. Rahane himself managed eight off nine balls before edging a slower delivery from Jaydev Unadkat. He struggled considerably against spin, with Ishan Kishan deploying Harsh Dubey and Abhishek Sharma early in the innings to exploit that weakness.
But Rahane was fierce in defending his form when questioned by reporters after the 65-run defeat.
“My strike rate… I have the best strike rate so far from 2023. People who are talking are probably not watching the game or have a certain agenda against me,” Rahane said. “They don’t like me playing. They don’t like to watch me play. The amount of success I’ve got, I guess they’re jealous about that.”
While the “agenda” and “jealousy” remarks triggered social media buzz, Rahane’s “best strike rate” claim also drew attention. Among the 55 batters with at least 2000 IPL runs, Rahane’s career strike rate of 125.32 places him 48th. Even going by his “last three years” argument, he ranks 33rd with a strike rate of 147.78 among players who have faced at least 400 balls since 2023.
Yet, Rahane may not be entirely wrong.
The 37-year-old found a second wind at Chennai Super Kings in 2023, scoring 326 runs in 11 innings at a remarkable strike rate of 172.48 — his best IPL season — which also earned him a recall to India’s Test side. Since then, he has maintained a strike rate of 147.78. Even in KKR’s 2026 opener against Mumbai Indians, he scored 67 at a strike rate of 150.
Much of this improvement has come in the powerplay. Since IPL 2023, only Abhishek Sharma (176.56) has a higher strike rate than Rahane (167.78) among Indian batters (minimum 250 balls) in that phase. Since 2025, that figure rises further to 181, second only to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (214) and Abhishek (188) against the new ball.
Breaking it down further, Rahane’s powerplay strike rate has fluctuated — 208 in 2023, 127 in 2024, 187 in 2025 (including 15 sixes), and 157 in the first two matches this season. This aggressive approach has brought success not just in the IPL — where he has been KKR’s leading run-scorer since 2025 — but also in domestic cricket with Mumbai, where he topped the charts in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with 391 runs at a strike rate of 161.57.
The issue for Rahane, however, lies in the middle overs.
This was evident again in the 2025 season, where his powerplay strike rate of 187.40 dropped sharply to 110.94 once field restrictions were lifted. A similar pattern emerged in the game against Mumbai this season — he raced to 36 off 18 balls in the powerplay but added just 31 runs off the next 22 deliveries, with his strike rate dipping from 200 to 140.9.
The key factor behind this decline has been his struggle against spin. Since 2025, Rahane has been dismissed nine times in 159 balls against spin in T20s, scoring at a strike rate of just 120.8. Eight of those dismissals have come in the middle overs, where his strike rate remains nearly identical at 122.9.
