Kolkata: After the crushing defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Ajinkya Rahane got angry at the questions being raised on him. He has given a direct reply to those criticizing his strike rate. Rahane said that those who are raising questions have some other agenda and are jealous of my success. Rahane expressed his anger in the press conference after the match.

After the team's defeat in the last two matches, there was a lot of discussion about Rahane's batting. But 37 year old Rahane rejected all these things. "People who talk about my strike rate either don't watch the game or have a personal agenda against me. They don't like me playing. They are jealous of the success I have achieved so far. So I am not too worried. I know very well what I am doing," he said.

defended his batting style

Rahane also avoided getting out after scoring just 8 runs in 10 balls in his 200th IPL match. He said, "I don't think it was a bad innings. I tried to score runs. Sometimes I don't find that rhythm in batting. People who don't understand the game talk about me. They didn't even think that I would improve my game so much." Rahane also reminded of his inning of 67 runs in 40 balls in the first match against Mumbai Indians. He said don't judge me just by seeing one bad innings.

Rahane made it clear that our team's policy is to bat without fear in the powerplay. He also expressed satisfaction with his opening partnership with Finn Allen. Rahane said that I will not change my game because of the defeat, whoever has to say, can keep saying. Let us tell you that while chasing the target of 227 runs given by Hyderabad, Kolkata team was all out for 161 runs and lost the match by 65 runs. With this defeat, Kolkata team has slipped to ninth place in the points table.

Ajinkya Rahane in 200 match club

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane has achieved a special position in IPL. He has become the 11th player in the history of the league to play 200 matches. The match played against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday was the 200th match of his IPL career. He has scored a total of 5107 runs in the tournament at an average of 30.58 and strike rate of 125.32, which includes 2 centuries and 34 half-centuries. His highest score is 105 runs.

Been part of six teams since 2008

Rahane has been playing IPL since 2008 and has been a part of 6 teams so far. In 2008 and 2009 he was with Mumbai Indians, while between 2011 and 2015 he played for Rajasthan Royals. In 2016 and 2017, he was a part of Rising Pune Supergiants. He returned to Rajasthan again in 2018 and 2019 and played for Delhi Capitals in 2020–2021. In 2022, he was in the Kolkata team, after which he got a chance to play for Chennai Super Kings in 2023 and 2024. He has been in the Kolkata team for the last 2 years and is now the captain too.