Ajinkya Rahane (C) of Kolkata Knight Riders plays a shot during Match 2 of the TATA Indian Premier League 2026 between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, India, on March 29, 2026. (CREIMAS for IPL)
Ajinkya Rahane’s varying moods mirrored Kolkata Knight Riders’ vulnerabilities in Mumbai on Sunday evening.
As KKR failed to defend 220 against the Mumbai Indians, captain Rahane’s mini-battles eventually encapsulated the contest at the Wankhede Stadium. The local man’s night closed with growing frustrations over the non-availability of an overseas bowling arm for whom KKR shelled out a record Rs 25.20 crore. Muscle cramps had also curtailed Rahane’s presence on the field during the second half, making the meek effort from his bowlers look all the more frustrating from the sidelines.
Even before his bowlers had squandered the plot, Rahane, the batter, was in the thick of things when momentum shifted from the KKR camp into Mumbai’s dugout. Batting first on a belter, the dichotomy of Rahane’s T20 batting playbook promptly showed up mid-way through the innings.
His dramatic batting rejuvenation over the last three years was at the heart of it. However, the flipside of a mean post-Powerplay power game pulls his own glorious headstarts back into middling lines.
Breathing fire up top! 🎆
🎥 Ajinkya Rahane and Finn Allen struck them sweetly during a blistering stand 👌
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— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 29, 2026
For his old-school top-handedness, Rahane’s Powerplay reinvention is in itself a surprise in his late thirties, one that has extended his life as a T20 bat. It has even led to captaincy with three-time champs KKR, starting last season.
As his latest knock played out in contrasting halves, it stuck to Rahane’s four-season-old upgrade from 2023: a Powerplay beast juxtaposed against a middle-overs grafter, closer to his overall IPL profile with a 125.44 strike rate in 199 matches.
Rahane had beautifully laid the base for the Knights in the Powerplay in Mumbai, relying on nothing more than the fundamentals that made for a chunk of his international career, a compact bat swing and impeccable wrist work. In the Powerplay, he pillaged 36 off 18 (4s: 3, 6s:3), but Post Powerplay, as power needed to be summoned to muscle his way against the bowlers, the boundaries disappeared and he had just 31 off 22 (4s:0, 6s:2).
| Ajinkya Rahane since IPL 2023 | Inns | Runs | Ave | SR | 6s | Bp6 | BpB |
| In Powerplay | 30 | 544 | 77.5 | 170.5 | 30 | 10.6 | 3.54 |
| In Middle-overs (7-16) | 29 | 448 | 16.6 | 124.1 | 18 | 20.5 | 9.25 |
| Overall | 30 | 1025 | 30.1 | 148.86 | 48 | 14.35 | 5.1 |
Pummelling Trent Boult and Hardik Pandya up front while facing half the deliveries in the first six overs, Rahane had sped to 36 in the Powerplay with three fours and three sixes; KKR had cruised to 78 for one by then. The energies were zapped right there, and his typical middle-overs sluggishness made for a dip in run-scoring for KKR between overs 7-14, which eventually marked his dismissal holed out to cover.
Since his first season with Chennai Super Kings in 2023, Rahane has emerged as a Powerplay gun who has slipped under the radar. Adapting to lighter bats and nifty tweaks, like reducing the amount of padding on his arm guard, have enabled Rahane to amplify the effect of his batswing and timing in the Powerplay.
Of the 14 batters who have aggregated at least 500 runs in the Powerplay since 2023, Rahane averages 77.7 for 544 runs. Only Sai Sudharsan (107.67) and Virat Kohli (92.00) overshadow Rahane in this regard, but even they do not match up to the Mumbaikar’s manic 170.53 strike rate. For comparison in that bracket, Rahane is competing with the likes of modern marauders Travis Head (186.43), Abhishek Sharma (174.34) and Phil Salt (173.81). Even the trio have not married consistency quite like Rahane has, reflecting sub-50 averages in the phase.
Ajinkya Rahane Captain of Kolkata Knight Riders looks on from the dugout during Match 2 of the TATA Indian Premier League 2026 between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, India, on March 29, 2026. (CREIMAS for IPL)
Rahane has struck 30 sixes in as many Powerplay innings in this period, a maximum flying every 10.6 deliveries off his bat. That is nearly all the sixes he had struck in the Powerplays in the 14 years before between 2008 and 2022 — 37 in 119 innings — with a six every 48 balls.
However, Rahane’s stark middle-overs drop-offs are impossible to ignore and, in time, may even generate a possibility of Powerplay batting specialists in the ever-evolving format. The arrival of the Impact Sub rule in 2023 and the absence of a natural power-based game magnified Rahane’s weaknesses in modulating gears between overs 7 and 16.
Among all 22 batters who have played at least 350 deliveries in the middle-overs since then, Rahane’s average and strike rate rank at the bottom. The averages drop by almost 60 runs to a paltry 16.6, while the scoring rate takes a similar plunge down to 124. The boundary-hitting range dwindles too, with a six emanating after every 24 deliveries.
Rahane is still “feeling young and feeling good” in a circuit tightened by skyrocketing scoring rates and six-hitting speeds. The legs are still fresh through the course of the Powerplay, after which they begin to cramp up. In search of a relentless ability that doesn’t come naturally, Rahane’s struggles double up as Kolkata’s own post-Powerplay peril.
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