A massive blow for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the middle of their clash against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, March 29, for the second match of the IPL 2026 season. KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane walked off the ground with a limping leg.
Ajinkya Rahane had to walk off the ground because of an injury scare. In the absence of Rahane, Rinku Singh, the vice-captain of the team, will lead the team. The instance takes place after the conclusion of the 4th over of the second innings.
KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane walked off the field with an injury scare
For the fifth over, Varun Chakaravarthy was about to take his run-up when Ajinkya Rahane lay on his back on the ground. The game had to pause for a while as the physio rushed onto the ground to assist the injured fielder. Manish Pandey came in as the substitute fielder.
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Injury for Rahane pic.twitter.com/f4uGKPznfs
— Nickk Knight (@KnightNick34590) March 29, 2026
It was definitely a major blow for the team, as the team was in a crucial juncture of the match, and Ajinkya Rahane is a seasoned campaigner to lead the team from the front at that moment. Throughout his career, the veteran cricketer has witnessed multiple pressure conditions, and he knows how to tackle those tricky situations.
Rinku Singh is the stand-in skipper in the absence of Ajinkya Rahane
In the absence of Rahane, the duty to take the team forward in the match is on the shoulders of Rinku Singh, who was named as the deputy captain ahead of the IPL 2026 season. Rinku Singh, he gathered some experiences about the leadership duties through some domestic games. It will be a massive moment for him, and will test his mettle as a captain as well for a moment.
After the first innings of the match, the Kolkata Knight Riders were in the driving seat as they secured a massive total of 220 runs on the scoreboard. Ajinkya Rahane batted beautifully along with his opening partner Finn Allen, and the middle-order batters Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Ringku Singh. The half-centuries of Rahane and Raghuvanshi took the team edge past the 200-run mark.
Mumbai Indian batters are ruling at the Wankhede Stadium
On their home soil, where the Mumbai Indians and some of their Indian talents have played a lot of cricket, they got a good start with Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton. As both Sharma and Rickelton scored a half-century each, MI quickly reached the 100-run mark.
As the match progresses, the momentum has lightly titled towards the home team, the Mumbai Indians. The batting part of the Kolkata Knight Riders did their job pretty well, but it was their bowling unit that pushed them on the back foot. During the writing of this article, Vaibhav Arora, Blessing Muzarabani, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Sunil Narine all conceded at least 11 runs per over in their respective innings.
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