'His Stature Would Be Halved': Huge Ajinkya Rahane Concern Raised Ahead Of KKR vs MI IPL 2026 Clash

Kolkata Knight Riders will open their IPL 2026 campaign with a tricky clash against the Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium. KKR missed out on a playoff spot last season, but they managed to strengthen their squad at the auction by bringing the likes of Cameron Green and Finn Allen. KKR entrusted Ajinkya Rahane once again with the leadership mantle, and the onus will be on the India star to lead the IPL 2024 champions to their 4th title.

Ajinkya Rahane's Perfect Batting Position Analysed

Rahane showed a glimpse of his best last season, but couldn't convert some of his good starts in the tournament. He ended up scoring 390 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 147.72 and was the highest scorer for KKR last term. Ahead of the first match, the KKR will have to determine the right batting order. With a number of talented openers in the squad, Rahane's batting position remains a big mystery.

Aakash Chopra believes the KKR captain should open the batting with Finn Allen.

On his YouTube channel, he said, "What are KKR's questions? Whom should they make open? What you do today, you will have to do that for at least four or five matches. I hope they think about Sunil Narine, but they won't be able to think about him because they have to play Finn Allen and make Ajinkya Rahane open.

“If they have to get both of them open, how will Sunil Narine come, and if Ajju doesn't open, his stature would be halved. That is one big question that they need to answer. After that, what is Cameron Green's right number? I think three is his right number. Make him bat there."

KKR face MI on March 29 at Wankhede Stadium at 7:30 PM IST.

KKR Squad For IPL 2026

Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Navdeep Saini, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Cameron Green, Finn Allen, Matheesha Pathirana, Tejasvi Singh, Kartik Tyagi, Prashant Solanki, Rahul Tripathi, Tim Seifert, Sarthak Ranjan, Daksh Kamra, Rachin Ravindra, Akash Deep, Blessing Muzarabani.

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