3 KKR players who are not in form heading into IPL 2025 ft. Rinku Singh

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the defending champions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) heading into the 2025 season, will kick off their campaign by playing the curtain raiser on March 22. They’ll face the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on their home turf, the iconic Eden Gardens.

The team lifted their third IPL trophy in 2024 under Shreyas Iyer’s leadership, by defeating Pat Cummins-led SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the title clash. Now that the Champions Trophy has concluded, with India emerging victorious, players will be geared up for the forthcoming 18th edition of the IPL.

The team roped back Ajinkya Rahane ahead of the 2025 edition and named the veteran the team’s skipper. Rahane was the leading run-scorer in the most recent edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and led Mumbai into the final with a magnificent 98-run knock in the semifinal.

While he is an experienced campaigner both as a player and leader and has been in top form, there are a few players in the KKR squad who have struggled with form of late.

Let’s look at three such top players:

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#3 Andre Russell

Caribbean all-rounder Andre Russell, who has been one of the core members of the KKR circuit, was retained by the franchise for ₹12 crore. He’s been donning the purple outfit since 2014 and has lifted two titles with KKR.

Russell’s carnage, both with the bat and ball, is known to all. However, his current form in the 20-over format hasn’t been much appealing. While his IPL 2024 outings were noteworthy, as he notched up 295 runs in 15 matches while also picking up 19 wickets, his recent performances haven’t been up to the mark.

He has managed to score just 104 runs and scalp a lone wicket in his last 10 T20 outings, all coming in between January 15 – February 3 this year. Nine of his past 10 outings were for Abu Dhabi KnightRiders, the KKR-owned franchise at the ILT20 tournament.

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#2 Quinton de Kock

After representing the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for three straight seasons, Quinton de Kock will now don the KKR outfit. He was roped in by the three-time champions for ₹3.60 crore at the two-day-long IPL 2025 mega-auction.

De Kock has proved his worth as an all-rounder over the past few editions of the cash-rich event, representing the Mumbai Indians (MI) and LSG. He most recently participated in the SA20, and in the last 10 T20 outings, he has accumulated only 159 runs in eight innings.

His performances in the last two editions of the IPL have also been mediocre, having scored 143 runs in four matches in the 2023 season and 250 runs in 11 matches last year. Joining a new team this year, the Protea wicketkeeper-batter would look to gain his old form back.

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#1 Rinku Singh

Star KKR and India batter, Rinku Singh had a dismal outing at the IPL last year. Nonetheless, the franchise showed their faith in him and retained the 27-year-old for a massive INR 13 crore, more than veterans Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.

His most recent outings in the 20-over format were for Team India when the Men in Blue faced England at home for a three-match T20I series in January 2025. While he did not get an opportunity to bat in the game, he managed just 39 runs in the next two games.

After smashing 474 runs in 14 matches in IPL 2023, Rinku’s performance graph saw a downfall as he could bag 168 in 2024, playing the same number of matches. His highest score last season was just 26. Returning to competitive cricket after a break of over two months, Rinku Singh will be raring to go.