KKR starts their IPL season today by playing against arch-rival MI at Wankhede Stadium. MI dominates the head-to-head record against KKR and has a good home record in Wankhede, and that always gives them an upper hand.
On the other hand, KKR has only 2 wins at Wankhede against MI, one in 2012 and another in 2024. Also, their bowling attack has gotten weak due to the injury status of Harshit Rana, Akashdeep and Pathirana. They also have a lot of new inclusions in the team, notably their best deal was getting Tim Seifert and Finn Allen.
KKR has always boasted of a flying start and explosive batting by openers starting from McCullum - Gayle to Narine-Lynn era. Last year, Captain Rahane came 3rd after opening, but he wasn’t that much of a contributor to the mindset.
This time, everyone wanted and predicted he was going to open with Allen, who is in a red-hot form with Green and Raghuvanshi following. Exactly that happened at Wankhede. Rahane played a great powerplay innings with Finn Allen completing a 50 partnership in his first game and showing his intent and prowess in the game. Not just blind slogging, Jinks played textbook cricket, taking on MI bowlers in their own backyard.
The Captain leading from the front scores a 50* in his first game in IPL, and KKR fans can’t keep calm. This is exactly the fire they were looking for last season, and indeed, a good decision to skip Narine's opening and utilise Jinks and Finn Allen well.
Rahane has also been trolled by fans and cricket fans for getting selected in the KKR side, but it looks like he is gonna be replying a lot to his cynics with his willow this season.
Let us see who finally wins the rivalry today! Will there be another breach at Wankhede by the Knights, or will the Paltan break the first match win curse?
