{"id":588832,"date":"2026-04-06T09:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T09:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/588832\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T09:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T09:29:10","slug":"ravichandran-ashwin-if-he-cannot-then-i-dont-know-ashwins-blunt-take-on-ajinkya-rahane-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/588832\/","title":{"rendered":"Ravichandran Ashwin: \u2018If he cannot then I don\u2019t know…\u2019: Ashwin’s blunt take on Ajinkya Rahane | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\u2018IfKolkata Knight Riders’ captain Ajinkya Rahane (AP Photo\/Rafiq Maqbool) With Kolkata Knight Riders enduring a tough start to IPL 2026, Ajinkya Rahane<\/a> has found himself under increasing scrutiny following defeats to Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad.Rahane<\/a> began the season on a positive note with a fluent 67 off 40 balls against Mumbai Indians, but his effort came in a losing cause as KKR failed to defend a strong total. In the next game, which also marked his 200th IPL appearance, he struggled for rhythm during a chase, managing just 8 off 10 balls against SRH. <\/p>\n

Watch<\/p>\n

Ajinkya Rahane press conference: KKR captain backs bowlers, hits back at SR critics The criticism around his captaincy has also been fuelled by off-field moments, including his remark on Cameron Green<\/a> not bowling, where he said the question should be directed to Cricket Australia. Rahane later pushed back at critics, defending his intent and pointing to his improved strike rate in recent seasons.Amid the noise, veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has stepped in to back Rahane, offering a strong endorsement of his leadership.”Honestly, I was reading a lot about Ajinkya Rahane, but he is a very good person, a very good human being. I have played under his captaincy and I am telling you, no bowler will get a more supportive captain. He is very supportive and a very calm captain. If he cannot get the best out of a bowler, then I don\u2019t know who can.”While defending Rahane, Ashwin made it clear that KKR\u2019s struggles are not solely down to captaincy. Instead, he pointed to tactical limitations, particularly in the bowling department.”He can maybe do one thing \u2014 use Sunil Narine in the powerplay and give Varun Chakravarthy a break, then bring him after the powerplay. If he does well, then confidence will come back. But that\u2019s all he can do. What else can he do? He cannot go and bowl himself.”Ashwin also highlighted the complications around match-ups, especially against left-handers, suggesting that avoiding certain bowlers could create further imbalance.”He can also maybe avoid giving him the ball against left-handers. But if you avoid him against left-handers, then who will bowl? Sunil Narine will bowl from one end, but who will bowl from the other? So there are a lot of problems in KKR.”He added that if Cameron Green starts contributing with the ball, it could ease some of the burden on the attack.With two defeats in their opening matches, KKR are already under pressure early in the season. Ashwin\u2019s comments underline that while Rahane remains under the spotlight, the issues within the side run deeper than just leadership concerns.Also See: IPL Points Table 2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kolkata Knight Riders’ captain Ajinkya Rahane (AP Photo\/Rafiq Maqbool) With Kolkata Knight Riders enduring a tough start to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[31778,26650,64,63,18762,740,31775,31774,171010,44656,85,192340,112587],"class_list":{"0":"post-588832","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-ajinkya-rahane","9":"tag-ashwin","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-cameron-green","13":"tag-cricket","14":"tag-ipl-2026","15":"tag-kolkata-knight-riders","16":"tag-rahane","17":"tag-ravichandran-ashwin","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-sunil-narine","20":"tag-varun-chakravarthy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}