Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif reckons Kolkata Knight Riders’ captain Ajinkya Rahane hasn’t been able to transfer his body weight forward, which is leading to dip in his form in the ongoing IPL 2026 season. Rahane was dismissed after scoring a run-a-ball 14 against Gujarat Titans in the previous game.
The KKR opener has scored 251 runs in 12 matches of the ongoing IPL 2026 at an average of 22.82 and a strike rate of 130.72. Thus, Rahane hasn’t been able to lead from the front in the 19th edition of the tournament.
Mohammad Kaif said on Star Sports, “What is his style of play? He (Ajinkya Rahane) is a slightly back-foot player. Whenever there is a rising delivery, he plays good shots like the punch or the pull. But when the ball is in the hard length area, within a 4-meter zone, his feet hardly come forward. On balls that should be driven, his body weight stays on the back foot. He is not able to transfer his body weight forward properly.”
The former UP batter highlighted that Rahane hasn’t been playing enough shots on the front foot.
He added, “Many times in this entire IPL, on balls in the 4-meter zone, he is playing shots from the back foot instead of going forward. So the body weight transfer is low. He is not playing enough front-foot shots, the classic drives are missing in the V. He does play the pick-up shot and can handle short balls on the body and cut rising deliveries. But on fuller balls where you want to drive, his front foot gets a bit stuck and he is unable to transfer his body weight properly. So that is the issue. He is definitely out of form. But you never know, in a crucial match, a big innings might still come.”
On the other hand, India’s fast bowler Umesh Yadav said in-form Finn Allen can change the game for KKR. Allen smashed 93 runs off just 35 balls in the previous game against GT and has scored 321 runs in nine games of the season.
“In the matches where he’s (Finn Allen) scoring runs, we have seen that KKR’s ability to chase or score runs is very good. If he manages to bat through the powerplay, they can chase any total comfortably. Finn Allen is a batter who can completely change the game.”
KKR will host MI on Wednesday.
