Kolkata Knight Riders slumped to a 14-year low on Thursday as they lost their first two matches of an IPL season for the first time since 2012. If it was their bowling that let them down in the 2026 opener against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede, it was the batting that unravelled this time, as the three-time champions suffered a heavy 65-run defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens.
Blessing Muzarabani returned with impressive figures of 4/41, but a commanding half-century from Heinrich Klaasen, following a blistering start from Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, powered Sunrisers to a daunting 226/8 after KKR opted to bowl first.
In response, Finn Allen gave Kolkata a brisk start, peppering the opening over with boundaries. But the hosts failed to build on that momentum, collapsing to 161 all out in just 16 overs to slump to their second successive defeat.
A lack of partnerships in the middle overs proved decisive, something captain Ajinkya Rahane acknowledged after the match.
“I thought, we did a couple of big partnerships. Guys who were set, they needed to take it deep in the end with the ball (bat). I thought we came back really well for 7-8 overs. Within the (10) overs, I thought they were 130, 140-odd. But with the ball, I thought we came back really well. In batting, when you’re chasing the target, you know you need that partnership. We couldn’t get that,” he said.
Rahane also pointed out that conditions changed slightly in the second innings, with the pitch offering more assistance to the bowlers—though he was quick to avoid using it as an excuse.
“I thought the second innings, I felt the ball was slightly stopping. The slower balls were gripping a lot more than the first innings. And that’s what we, I don’t know, we thought the wicket will get better but the ball was little stopping. But again, see, no excuses. We got the good start. I thought first six overs we were 78. We lost that one extra wicket. Green is run out. But apart from that, we were going really well. As I said, middle overs were the crucial time for us. We needed that partnership from the set batters. That just didn’t happen,” he added.
‘KKR need one batter extra’
With both departments misfiring in the opening two matches, Rahane admitted that the team would need to reassess their combination—particularly the balance of the batting unit.
“Winning a game, home game is really important. So, we’ll have to just go back in the drawing room, just think about our combination. If bowling, if we can get extra batter in our lineup, we’ll have to think about that. But again, we got 3-4 days. We don’t want to think too much.”
KKR will now look to regroup ahead of their third match of the season against Punjab Kings on April 6 at home.
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