Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bowed out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 with a massive 110-run loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on May 25. After the loss, captain Ajinkya Rahane admitted that the defending champions did not play well as a unit. He rued missing out on three close games and defended Venkatesh Iyer who had a lacklustre season despite a hefty price tag of Rs 23.75 crore.
"See, what I can say is, whether a player is bought for Rs 20 crore or Rs 2 crore, the attitude on the field shouldn't change — and I don't think it did,” said Rahane in the post-match press conference.
“Venkatesh was focused on the right things. He was training hard, committed during games, and trying to contribute. His attitude was fantastic.
“One off-season can happen to any player. It’s not about money or pressure from the price tag — it’s about form and the team dynamics. For us, unfortunately, three to four players were out of form simultaneously, and that made the difference.”
Venkatesh was released but brought back for even bigger sum at the mega auction. The franchise chose to rope in the southpaw instead of their title-winning captain Shreyas Iyer who is leading Punjab Kings. He expressed he want to be the captain but the KKR team management chose to trust experienced Rahane who they bought for Rs 1.5 crore. Notably, Rahane went unsold in the first round of the mega auction.
Venkatesh in IPL 2025
Venkatesh played seven matches and scored 142 runs from 11 innings at an average of 20.29, including one half-century. His strike rate in the season was 139.21. The batting all-rounder got injured earlier this month and did not play KKR's last three matches. It will be interesting to see if KKR release him before the mini-auction.
Big loss for KKR
The defending champions finished eighth on the points table with 12 points. They won five whereas two of their games were washed out due to rain. In their last match, they conceded 278/3 as Heinrich Klaasen scored an unbeaten 105 off 39 balls. In the run chase, they were bowled out for 168.