How To Fix KKR In IPL 2025: Drop Andre Russell? Should Ajinkya Rahane Open?
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After just three wins from eight matches, KKR need a fix to get their playoffs hope back. Should they drop big names like Andre Russell? Or is the solution much simpler?
Is dropping Andre Russell the solution for KKR? (Picture credit: AFP)
Matches between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Gujarat Titans (GT) are always a good opportunity to judge one of the Kolkata-based franchise’s most debatable decisions: retaining Venkatesh Iyer over Shubman Gill in 2021. At the time, Gill was young and promising, while Venkatesh had had a crazy debut year, where, opening the batting, he scored 370 at an average of 41.11 with exciting contributions with both bat and ball.
On Monday, as GT visited the Eden Gardens for just a second-ever IPL clash against KKR (the last one was washed out), captain Gill painted a brutal picture of introspection for the home fans. He top-scored with a smart, tempo-perfect 90 (55) and then aggressively celebrated when Venkatesh got out for a momentum-sucking 14 (19) with no boundaries or sixes, in the second innings, pulling the hosts down for a 39-run loss.
It’s not to say that Venkatesh is the problem in this KKR team, which has already lost more matches (five) than they did in the entirety of IPL 2024. It’ll also be wrong to blame this mess on KKR’s spending of Rs 23.75 crore in the IPL 2025 auction — although exorbitant, the amount was less of a reflection of Venkatesh’s quality and more of KKR’s desire to get him back after he played a huge role in their title-winning campaign.
But KKR’s problems are connected to Venkatesh, so much so that even if they can pull off the impossible exchange with GT and get Gill for him, they’d remain as dysfunctional, if not more. Their bowling has fallen off a bit too — it was expected without a good replacement for Mitchell Starc — but like the match against Punjab Kings — a loss by 16 runs despite getting them out for 111 — showed, batting is the main culprit.
But let’s cut to the chase, they can still qualify if they win five of their next six matches, but how can they do it?
Method 1: Go back to basics at the top
KKR’s title-winning IPL 2024 season was set up by the Phil Salt-Sunil Narine combination, which was the third-best opening partnership in the season. After an IPL 2023 where they tried almost a dozen pairs, Salt and Narine’s ability to hit big runs while also regularly batting past the 10th over was a huge relief.
In IPL 2025, the Narine-Quinton de Kock pair is placed eighth and barely managed 100 runs together before being decoupled against GT. KKR didn’t make a mistake by letting Salt go when the price was too high in the auction — Quinton de Kock and Rahmanullah Gurbaz were decent back-ups — but they erred by thinking that Narine would be able to recreate his unbelievable 488-run season.
Narine was getting consistent single-digit scores in less competitive leagues immediately after the IPL. His struggles in the first few games should have made KKR drop that plan. It’s not too late to see that his ‘pinch-hitting’ impact at the top of the order, which has been decoded by most teams, is not worth putting Venkatesh at number four (a position where his strike-rate is 114.3, compared to 168.8 at number three).
Ajinkya Rahane can be the leader and take the responsibility at the top of the order, with de Kock or Gurbaz. It’ll also bring out the best in him: he struggles against spin in the middle overs (IPL strike rate of 111 in that phase) and limiting that exposure, while also allowing him to get boundaries in the powerplay, can work.
Venkatesh at number three will also take away the innings-building responsibility from him and give him some chance in the powerplay, which he seems to enjoy. If the top three fail, you can send Angkrish Raghuvanshi at number four (where he strikes at 145.16); otherwise, hold him back behind the big-hitters.
It’ll also mean Rinku Singh, Andre Russell and Ramandeep Singh won’t be pigeonholeed as finishers but can come and face enough deliveries at number five, six and seven respectively. Narine can then fit at number eight if at all needed, or come in as a floater against some spinners he has good match-ups with.
The team will look like this: Quinton de Kock/Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy and Anrich Nortje. (Impact Player: Vaibhav Arora)
Method 2: Take risks
It’s clear that the opening combination is not working. But if KKR still needs Narine’s big-hitting, while maintaining the Venkatesh-number-three and Rinku-number-five idea, then they can take a risk by asking Karnataka’s 25-year-old wicketkeeper Luvnith Sisodia to open the innings.
This will do two things: bring some fresh-talent energy into the squad, which is one of the qualities that won them the title last year plus free up an overseas spot. This extra spot can be used to strengthen the batting further, but not with an all-rounder like Moeen Ali, but a specialist hitter like Rovman Powell.
Yes, dropping Andre Russell, who has not been doing enough this season, for Powell is also an option. But Russell’s is much more important than what he does with the bat, he has been KKR’s fifth-highest wicket-taker this season with six important scalps at an average of 16.83 and an excellent economy rate of 7.50.
The team will look something like this: Luvnith Sisodia, Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Rovman Powell, Ramandeep Singh, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy and Anrich Nortje. (Impact player: Vaibhav Arora)
In such a set-up, you’ll have games where you won’t need Ramandeep Singh’s services, so for some games on flatter tracks where you can trust the top-seven batters, Anukul Roy can come in as the extra bowling option.
Russell will have to contribute more as a proper fifth bowler, but it’s a role he did well last season and has already shown signs of doing again. It gives both options much more role clarity, with set positions for the RRR (Rinku, Russell and Ramandeep), another big-hitter in Powell and more than enough bowling variety.
KKR needs to change something to have a final push towards the playoffs, and whether it’s toning down towards the basics or going on the offensive with confidence, it needs to come soon.
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