KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane told to take leaf out of Virat Kohli's book ahead of IPL 2026; ‘he did not have a single…’

Ajinkya Rahane has been told to take a leaf out of Virat Kohli's book if the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain wants to stand out in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which starts on Saturday. Having played in all IPL seasons since 2008, baring 2010, Rahane is just two games shy of featuring 200 games in the league, and accumulated 5032 runs so far.

Rahane's first season with KKR came in 2022 when he managed just 133 runs from seven games. He returned to the three-time champions once again in 2025 as a captain after IPL 2024 title-winning skipper Shreyas Iyer went to Punjab Kings. Although Rahane showed glimpses of his form, but the India batter failed to convert those starts into match-winning knocks.

With just three days to go before the 19th season kicks off, former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif flagged out Rahane's weaknesses against the slow bowlers, urging to right-hander to transform his game just like Kohli did. Kaif cited that Kohli was under severe criticism for his strike rate against spin.

But the former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) skipper expanded his range of strokes and adopted a more aggressive approach to remain effective in the fast-changing scenario of T20 cricket. “Virat Kohli was in a similar situation. His strike rate was going down against spinners,” Kaif remarked, as reported by TOI.

Once regarded as one of the best fielders India has ever produced, Kaif flagged just Rahane's lack of variations in shots against the spinners. "He (Kohli) shut everyone's mouth by attacking the spinners and inventing new shots. Rahane just has the slog sweep against spinners. He needs to work on his power-hitting down the ground. He has to increase his range of shots against spinners, as Virat Kohli has done.

"Virat Kohli has set a great example for everyone, and Rahane can also learn from it," added Kaif. With the pressure of captaincy on him, the Mumbai batter had an okay-ish 2025 season with 390 runs in 14 games. In fact, Rahane managed just two fifty-plus scores in IPL 2025.

“If you look at the entire campaign, he scored around 30-40 in almost every match, but he did not have a single Man of the Match award. So, that question mark is still there with Rahane. 30s and 40s are fine, but he gets out as soon as the spinners come in,” concluded Kaif.

Batting position a headache for Ajinkya Rahane

Coming after a brilliant Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 trophy (SMAT) campaign where he finished within the top five with 391 runs, Rahane will be eager to leave a mark with his bat. However, with a batting heavy squad this time, it will be a challenge for Rahane as far as his batting position is concerned.

There is a strong possibility of Rahane opening the innings with Finn Allen at the top of the order with Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green and Rahul Tripathi completing the top five. Before coming into IPL 2026, Rahane had scores of 95 not out and 72 not out against Odisha and Rajasthan respectively in SMAT.