Reasons for defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders' Middling IPL 2025 Season | Mint

The defense of the title is one of the most difficult things in the Indian Premier League. Chennai Super Kings (2010, 2011) and Mumbai-Indians (2019, 2020) were the only two parties to win back-to-back titles. Since 2021, teams have been ominous with their title defense. Mumbai -indians (winner of 2020) and Chennai Super Kings (winner of 2021 and 2023) were unable to reach the playoffs in the following years. Gujarat Titans was the only team to make the final in 2023 after winning the title in 2022. Kolkata Knight Riders, the winner of IPL 2024, is in a similar boat. The side of Ajinkya Rahane weakens at 6th place in the points table and only takes 11 points out of 12 games. The defeat of royal challengers Bengaluru tonight and Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 25 may not be enough for KKR to reach the playoffs. They need two of Punjab Kings, Mumbai-Indians and Delhi capitals to have ridiculously poor results so that they can sneak as the fourth best team in the playoffs. This article analyzes the reasons for KKR’s unstable opening pair, despite trying 8 different opening pairs, KKR managed to have just two fifty-plus stands for the first wicket in 2023. The management corrected the problem by connecting Phil Salt and Sunil Narine at the top of the order in 2024. Fast forward to 2025, and KKR managed 0 fifty partnerships for the first wicket in 11 completed innings. Quinton de Kock as a substitute for Phil Salt did not produce the desired results. Duration of disappointment KKR could not retain Venkatesh Iyer before the Mega auction. They had to release Mitchell Starc, Phil Salt and Venkatesh Iyer. Management would have retained the entire group if they got an option. But the KKR thinking tank all shocked by shooting 23.75 crore for Venkatesh Iyer. Venkatesh endured a difficult campaign and scored just 142 runs in 7 overs. He couldn’t cross 15 runs in five of the seven innings. The mid-order roulette T20 cricket is an ever-developing format. Teams hold a flexible batting order for various reasons. Matches and match situations are the two important reasons for teams to promote or demotate a specific batter. But KKR seems to have gathered their strategies too much. Batting position fighters have lost number 3 3 3 number 4 6 number 5 3 number 6 4 kkr trying to lose two winning matches due to their batting. They lost to Lucknow Super Giants (238/3) by Kolkata Knight Riders (234/7) by 4 runs, although they only needed 77 of 43 balls with 8 wickets in hand. They moved Rinku Singh to the number 8 position, just to keep a left right couple at the fold. KKR fighters also couldn’t chase 112 against Punjab Kings. KKR would have sat in third place, just by simply winning the two winning matches. Absence of an intimidating overseas pacemaker Mitchell Starc had an ordinary league stage in 2024 for KKR. Yet he showed his measure in qualifier 1 and the final against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Anrich Nortje and Spencer Johnson could not have a similar impact this year. Andre Russell was deployed sparingly by Captain Rahane. Fine margins can make or break an IPL campaign, and KKR was more frequent on the wrong side of things. Stay up to date with all the actions from the IPL 2025. Look at the IPL 2025 schedule, follow the latest IPL 2025 points table and follow the top performers with the orange cap and purple cap.