Taking everything in my stride: Rahane embraces captaincy challenge after 2025 flop show

Despite overhauling their squad after a disappointing title defence in 2025, Kolkata Knight Riders have retained faith in skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who said on Friday (March 20, 2026) he is embracing the responsibility with calmness and positivity.

Rahane, who topped KKR’s scoring charts last season with 390 runs, could not prevent the team from finishing eighth with just five wins in 14 matches (two abandoned).

But the veteran insisted that pressure is nothing new, and he is focused on approaching challenges with the right mindset.

“Every year, there are different challenges as a player and also as a captain. What I learned throughout my journey is be positive each and every time, whatever challenges are there,” the 37-year-old said during KKR’s first media interaction of the season.

“I’ve been leading the team since last year and really grateful to the franchise that they gave me this responsibility to lead the team. Taking everything in my stride, taking everything in a positive way. There are always opportunities, there are challenges, you always see opportunities.

“My mindset has always been like that throughout my career, that if I see any challenges or particular, if something difficult is, I look at it in a positive way and try to give my best as a player and also as a captain,” he added.

After last season’s underwhelming finish, Rahane said it’s important to start strong while maintaining consistency through the long tournament.

“As a team, we would like to start really well this season,” he said.

“It’s a long tournament and you don’t want to peak too early. As a team, and also the expectations from the boys, basically, you don’t actually looking for a perfect game. There are going to be errors throughout the tournament.

“But as a unit, what we would like to do is we play positive brand of cricket. So as a unit, as a team management, we are really confident about the side that will do really well this season.” KKR head into IPL 2026 with a revamped batting unit after releasing stalwarts Andre Russell and Venkatesh Iyer, and splurging big at the auction, including a record Rs 25.20 crore for Cameron Green.

The squad now boasts explosive options like Finn Allen and Tim Seifert, alongside Sunil Narine and Rahane himself at the top of the order.

Despite the abundance of choices, Rahane remained tight-lipped about the batting order and combinations.

“The batting group which we have this year is amazing. I mean, most of the batters, they’re in good form. Guys from overseas also in good, very good nick. Had a very good World Cup as well.

“See, frankly, I’m not going to tell you the lineup, what lineup we are going to go with, but as I said, all the batters who are here at the moment are very good in nick, very good in nick, and we just started our camp with this before, so really excited for the season,” he said.