The Kolkata Knight Riders batter Rachin Ravindra has left the IPL camp to begin his red-ball preparations for the upcoming tour of England. KKR posted a video of the Kiwi hugging the players and support staff prior to his departure back to his country. He didn’t feature in any of the games for KKR in the entire season despite a terrible season for the franchise. It was a New Zealand dominated camp with the likes of Finn Allen, Tim Seifert and Rachin Ravindra. He would be disappointed that he didn’t get a match in this season but sometimes that is the harsh reality of IPL.

KKR were just shuffling around the options of Finn Allen and Tim Seifert as one of the openers along with Ajinkya Rahane. There have been some questionable decisions by KKR including the decision to not give Rachin Ravindra even a chance in the starting squad. He was a key player for the Chennai Super Kings in the last couple of seasons but this time, he has just been warming the bench for KKR. It was a surprise that he didn’t get a chance in an out-of-form batting unit of Kolkata.

KKR face tough criticism over team selection with their most expensive buys warming the bench

With 3 games still to go in the tournament for KKR, they have been eliminated from the playoff race with their loss against RCB. They stood a vague chance of qualifying for the playoffs as they were winless in the first half of the season and they secured their first victory of the season against the Rajasthan Royals. Rinku Singh helped the Kolkata Knight Riders to produce a fightback into the season with four victories on the trot. It almost felt like they would pull off a similar stunt as RCB did in 2024, when they won 6 out of 6 games to qualify for the playoffs. But they unfortunately missed out, and will be hoping to bounce back strongly in the IPL 2027 season.

The talent that KKR had in their side was undoubtedly one of the best with big overseas stars in their team. However, it was unbelievable that Matheesha Pathirana, the star Sri Lankan pacer they bought for INR 17 Crore did not even get a chance in their starting squad. With the massive form dip of the New Zealand openers, Finn Allen and Tim Seifert, KKR still couldn’t find a spot for Rachin Ravindra in their side. A lot of questions were raised by the experts in terms of their team selection and their approach to the game, but there weren’t many changes as such. KKR will be hoping to rebuild their team in the next season of the IPL and they are trying to make a strong case for themselves to be in title contention.