Ajinkya Rahane’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) took on Hardik Pandya’s Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 12th match of the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025).
Kolkata Knight Riders lost the match against the Mumbai Indians by 8 wickets at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday, March 31.
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180-190 would have been good on this wicket – Ajinkya Rahane
Losing the toss and batting first in the match, the Kolkata Knight Riders had a nightmarish outing as they got bowled out for a mere 116 runs in 16.2 overs. Defending the low score, the KKR bowlers gave their best, but MI easily crossed the finish line in 12.5 overs.
Speaking after the match, KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane blamed the defeat on the collective batting failure of the side and said that a score of around 180-190 would have been ideal. Ajinkya Rahane said:
“Collective batting failure. It was a good wicket to bat on as I mentioned in the toss. 180-190 would have been good on this wicket. It has a very good bounce. Sometimes you have to use the pace and bounce.”
We got to learn really fast from this game – Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane further emphasized on taking learnings from the match against the Mumbai Indians and moving forward in the long competition. He elaborated:
“We got to learn really fast from this game. Couldn’t do much with the ball. They tried their best. But not much runs on the board. We kept on losing wickets.
“Four wickets in the powerplay. It was difficult to consolidate and get that total on the board. You need that partnership going. You need one batsman to stay till the end.”
How did KKR perform in the previous IPL match against MI?
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) delivered a strong performance against Mumbai Indians (MI) in their previous IPL clash on May 11, 2024, at Eden Gardens to clinch an 18-run victory.
Batting first in a rain-reduced 16-over-per-side game, KKR lost Phil Salt (6) and Sunil Narine (0) early, but Venkatesh Iyer (42 off 21) batted brilliantly and helped his team recover.
He, along with Nitish Rana (33 off 23), ensured a steady flow of runs before Andre Russell (24 off 14) and Ramandeep Singh (17 off 8) provided the finishing touches. KKR posted a competitive score of 157/7, taking most of the MI bowlers to the cleaners.
Defending the score, KKR’s bowlers fired as a unit and restricted MI to 139/8. Varun Chakravarthy (2/17) was the standout performer, dismissing both Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya at crucial moments. Sunil Narine (1/21) and Andre Russell (2/34) applied pressure, while Harshit Rana (2/34) ensured MI never gained momentum despite late fireworks from Tilak Varma (32 off 17) and Naman Dhir (17 off 6).
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