Former India captain Sourav Ganguly questioned Kolkata Knight Riders’ decision to send Andre Russell and Rinku Singh at No 7 and 8 in a mammoth chase of 239, as the hosts fell short by four runs at the Eden Gardens, losing their third match out of five so far in IPL 2025.
KKR, who were cruising at one stage in the chase, tinkered with their batting order and ended up leaving far too many runs for the Russell-Rinku duo as they sent Ramandeep Singh, who has hardly batted in the tournament so far, up in the order, at No 5.
“Who loses such a match? KKR let a certain win slip through their fingers,” Ganguly quipped. What was the turning point of the match? As soon as the question was asked, the former KKR captain analysed: “Who sends finishers and power hitters like Russell and Rinku so far down the order? KKR really needs to rethink their batting order.”
Pitch controversy refuses to die down. KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane takes veiled dig at Eden Gardens curator after losing high-scoring thriller against LSG.#KKRvsLSG #AjinkyaRahane
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— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) April 8, 2025
Though slightly slow, the Eden Gardens surface was essentially a flat pitch. And on that surface, runs flowed like a river. There had been no shortage of drama in the KKR camp over the pitch in recent days. In the match against Lucknow, the bowlers didn’t get much assistance from the surface, but the batters enjoyed a festival of runs. After a fantastic start to the chase, when KKR’s batting was under pressure, they shocked everyone by sending Russell at 7 and Rinku at 8. The result? They lost the match. Referring to this, the former India captain said, “The KKR team management really needs to think more deeply about their strategy. In T20 cricket, does anyone send their two best finishers to bat at 7 and 8?”
Ajinkya Rahane and his team are heading to Chennai on Wednesday. KKR will face Chennai Super Kings on April 11. How much of a setback will this four-run defeat at home be for KKR? Ganguly replied, “In a tournament like the IPL, everything happens so fast that it’s hard to say which loss is a setback and which one isn’t. Time will answer that question.”
Many matches have already been played in IPL 2025. Which team seems to be the favourite? The former India captain took a moment before responding. “Punjab, Delhi and Gujarat are quite good teams. In a tournament like the IPL, to succeed as a team, bowlers need to be more proactive. If you look closely, you’ll see that the better a team’s bowling attack, the higher their chances of success.”
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