Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane has set an unwanted all-time record in the Indian Premier League 2026. Rahane bagged his second consecutive duck in the tournament after being dismissed by Nandre Burger in the second over of KKR's run chase.
Rahane went for a cut on the second ball he faced, a short delivery outside off, and nicked it behind to the wicketkeeper, Dhruv Jurel, after Tim Seifert was also dismissed for a duck in the first over. A dejected KKR skipper went back to the hut as KKR slipped into early trouble in the 156-run chase. Meanwhile, Rahane had bagged a golden duck in KKR's previous match against the Gujarat Titans after being dismissed by Mohammed Siraj.
With his duck against the Royals, Rahane has etched his name into unwanted history books. Rahane has now created the record for most ducks by an opener in the Indian cash-rich league after his 12th duck at the top of the order. He was previously tied with Parthiv Patel for 11 ducks but has now gone past him.
Most ducks as an opener in IPL:
12 - Ajinkya Rahane
11 - Parthiv Patel
10 - Shikhar Dhawan
10 - Gautam Gambhir
9 - David Warner
Rahane-Seifert duck create unique record for KKR
Before Rahane, Seifert was dismissed for a golden duck on the first ball of the innings. Jofra Archer castled the New Zealand opener on a ball that seamed in to hit the pads before ricocheting to the stumps. Rahane's duck has now handed an unwanted deja vu. This was just the second time that both of the KKR openers were dismissed for a duck. The only previous such instance happened in 2014 when Gautam Gambhir and Jacques Kallis.
KKR keep RR to 155/9
The spin duo of Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine delivered an excellent performance to restrict Rajasthan Royals to 155 for 9 against Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL clash on Sunday.
After being put in to bat, Yashasvi Jaiswal (39) and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (46) gave RR a blazing start, racing to 81 without loss in just 8.3 overs. However, Chakaravarthy (3/14) and Narine (2/26) applied the brakes effectively, reducing the side to 124 for 5 by the 16th over.
Shimron Hetmyer (15) and Riyan Parag (12) got starts but failed to convert them, and Kartik Tyagi (3/22) struck late to pick up three wickets. Rajasthan never quite recovered from the middle-overs squeeze, ending with a below-par total.
