Fast bowler injured, question on making Rahane the captain, what will be the condition of KKR?

The troubles of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), who finished eighth in the Indian Premier League (IPL) last season, are not showing any sign of abating. KKR had to face huge opposition after buying Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman in the IPL 2026 auction. When the matter escalated, BCCI issued instructions to him, after which the franchise released Mustafizur. KKR had bid Rs 9.20 crore for Mustafizur.

By releasing Mustafizur, they lost a foreign fast bowler. KKR had not even recovered from this shock when its two main fast bowlers Harshit Rana and Mathisha Pathirana got injured. Harshit had to undergo knee surgery. It is considered certain that he will be out of the entire season. There is no update yet on how many matches Pathirana will be available for. KKR will now have hopes from Blessing Muzarabani as the replacement for Mustafizur, who had an excellent T20 World Cup 2026.

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Questions raised on making Rahane the captain

Three-time champion KKR has made experienced batsman Rahane the captain for this season also. Rahane took charge of the team last season but KKR could not do anything special under his leadership. She could win only 5 out of 14 matches. Two of his matches were washed out due to rain. Questions were already being raised about Rahane’s place in the KKR team. Now after being made the captain again, people say that this time KKR will not be able to reach the playoffs.

Social media users believe that Rahane does not fit in the modern-day T20 team. He does not get a place in the playing XI. Making him captain will cause losses to the team like last season. People say that Australian all-rounder Cameron Green should have been given the captaincy, for which the franchise had spent Rs 25.20 crore.

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Will all-rounder save KKR?

After Andre Russell’s retirement, KKR made a big bid on Green to fill his void. He already has Sunil Narayan and Ramandeep Singh. Apart from this, KKR strengthened its pool of all-rounders by re-joining the in-form Anukul Roy and Rachin Ravindra. Of these, all except Rachin will be seen in the starting playing XI, who will be responsible for taking KKR to the playoffs. If these all-rounders do not perform then it will be difficult for this team to progress from the league stage.

 
KKR’s probable playing XI: Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Blessing Muzarabani, Varun Chakraborty, Vaibhav Arora.

Full squad of KKR: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Finn Allen, Tim Seifert, Tejaswi Dahiya, Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sarthak Ranjan, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Daksh Kamra, Cameron Green, Sunil Narine, Rachin Ravindra, Anukul Roy, Akash Deep, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Kartik Tyagi, Blessing Muzarabani, Mathisha Pathirana, Prashant Solanki, Umran Malik, Varun Chakraborty