KKR suffered a humiliating defeat last night against the Sunrisers. KKR were asked to bowl first as SRH won the toss. The KKR bowlers were destroyed by the openers, Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head, as they scored 84/1 within the Powerplay. Zimbabwe's Blessing Muzarabani was the standout bowler for KKR, claiming a 4-wicket haul amidst a massive SRH total. The bowlers finally ended the innings with a score of 226 for their batters to chase.
The horrors for the Knight Riders didn’t stop in the second innings, despite a blistering start by Finn Allen, who scored 28 off 7 balls. The team had a lot of miscommunication, which led to multiple run-outs in the form of Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green and Vice-Captain Rinku Singh. KKR was all out in just 16 overs, making 161 runs.
KKR’s performance received a lot of criticism, and the former Indian team player, Yusuf Pathan, also didn’t stop from criticising the management for their poor choices since the 2025 mega auctions.
Pathan calls Venkatesh Iyer’s performance “substandard”
Yusuf slammed the appointment of Abhishek Nayar as Head Coach, questioning his experience and credentials. He argued that Sharma's success in turning Andre Russell into a power-hitter did not qualify him to manage a top-level team and its batsmen. He expressed disbelief at the management's decision to drop IPL-winning captain Shreyas Iyer while spending a massive ₹23.75 crore on Venkatesh Iyer, whom he accused of delivering "substandard performances". Yusuf suggested that the management mistakenly believed money could replace the consistent leadership and stability provided by the former captain.
It's hard to believe that KKR removed their IPL-winning captain Shreyas Iyer and spent ₹23.75 crore on Venkatesh Iyer, only for him to deliver poor performances. KKR management really thought leadership and consistency like Shreyas Iyer could be bought with money, the player said.
KKR’s NRR has now dropped to -1.964, and they have dropped to the 9th position on the Points Table, just above CSK. It would be interesting to see what changes the team will make to overcome the past losses.
