Former India player Aakash Chopra has questioned KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane’s leadership in their defeat to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL 2025 season opener. He also added that the KKR skipper was too late in introducing Sunil Narine into the attack as well. However, KKR posted a 175-run target after being asked to bat first in the IPL 2025 opener in Kolkata on Saturday, March 22 and they reached the target with seven wickets and 22 balls to spare as well.

While talking about this on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “There was a question mark on Salt’s form. You can give a thumbs up with both hands there. It’s another thumbs up for RCB along with Virat Kohli’s excellent batting. It was Salt’s assault. Two balls had to be brought back from Salt Lake. They went very far. One team’s loss, another team’s happiness. There I felt that what I said for Rajat Patidar, it seemed the same for Rahane. Why weren’t you bringing Sunil Narine? Who were you waiting for? They kept hitting but you were not bringing him. He got very late in bringing him. So Rahane missed a trick there. So thumbs down for KKR, thumbs up for RCB.”

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Meanwhile, Aakash Chopra also applauded Rajat Patidar for playing a stunning knock in Saturday’s game and continuing his dominance over Sunil Narine as well.

“I also wanted to see where Devdutt Padikkal would play. He is batting at No. 3. Runs weren’t scored but it’s okay. However, Rajat Patidar looked beautiful and this is the stat, he has played only 14 balls off Sunil Narine and he has hit three sixes. To put it in context, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, who have been playing against this bowler for 13-14 years, have totally hit four sixes. So Rajat Patidar’s supremacy against Sunil Narine came to the fore,” Aakash Chopra concluded.