Kolkata Knight Riders suffered a blow when captain Ajinkya Rahane walked off the field mid-way during their IPL 2026 opener against the Mumbai Indians. Rahane, who scored an impressive 67 from 40 balls earlier, left the field after the fourth over of MI's chase of 221 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Just before the start of the fifth over, Rahane was down on the field in what looked like cramps as the physio attended to the KKR skipper. He was taken off the field with the help of his teammates.
Who leads KKR in Rahane's absence?
Star India batter Rinku Singh is the designated vice-captain of the Knight Riders, having been given the responsibility ahead of the start of IPL 2026. Rinku has been an integral part of the KKR setup, having been with the team since his debut in 2018.
KKR's IPL career in a nutshell
Rinku has made his name as a designated finisher in the KKR line-up. He is an indispensable player in the team and does the difficult job of finishing games in pressure situations.
He has played 59 IPL games in which he has made 11132 runs at 31.44 and at a strike rate of 145.50. His breakout IPL season was the 2023 one, when he scored 474 runs in 14 innings in his team's title win. One of the most memorable moments of the IPL came when he smashed five consecutive sixes off Yash Dayal in the last five balls of the match to chase 30 in the final over.
KKR score well against MI
Kolkata Knight Riders showed excellent intent throughout, maintaining a high run rate with aggressive stroke play and smart partnerships against the Mumbai Indians. Their middle order capitalised in the death overs, accelerating effectively and exploiting gaps. The balanced contribution across the lineup highlighted KKR’s batting depth and strong match awareness. Ajinkya Rahane led from the front with 67 off 40 balls, while Angkrish Raghuvanshi smashed a quick 51 and Rinku Singh added a valuable unbeaten 33, powering KKR to a big total.
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Blessing Muzarabani
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton(w), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Sherfane Rutherford, Naman Dhir, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Markande, AM Ghazanfar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
Kolkata Knight Riders Impact subs: Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Kartik Tyagi, Saurabh Dubey, Tejasvi Dahiya
Mumbai Indians Impact subs: Suryakumar Yadav, Corbin Bosch, Robin Minz, Raj Bawa, Ashwani Kumar
