3 major factors behind KKR's struggles in early part of IPL 2025 ft. Venkatesh Iyer

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have gotten off to a mediocre start in the ongoing IPL 2025 season. The defending champions are positioned last in the points table with a solitary victory in three games and a net run rate of -1.428.

KKR began their campaign with a loss against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Batting first, captain Ajinkya Rahane (56) led the charge for them to settle for a sub-par total of 174. Thereafter, RCB sealed the chase in less than 17 overs, with Kohli (59*) as the top-scorer.

The Knight Riders tasted their first victory of IPL 2025 against the Rajasthan Royals (RR). A proficient bowling performance saw them restrict the Royals to 151/9. In response, Quinton de Kock (97*) emerged as the top batter for KKR, as they completed the chase with 15 balls to spare.

In their last outing, the Rahane-led side sustained a shattering loss against the Mumbai Indians (MI). Angkrish Raghuvanshi (26) was the team's best batter, as they were all out for 116. Then, Mumbai made short work of the chase by taking less than 13 overs to win the game.

On that note, let's take a look at a few reasons why KKR have under-performed so far in the cash-rich league.

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#1 Failures of Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh

Venkatesh Iyer started his IPL career with KKR in the 2021 season. He made an impact straight away, slamming 370 runs to take the team to the final. He continued to play for the franchise while contributing 370 runs in KKR's title victory in 2024.

After not retaining him, KKR splurged ₹23.75 crore to secure the services of Iyer in the IPL 2025 auction. However, the southpaw has failed badly so far in the ongoing season. The southpaw returned with a knock of 6 off 7 balls against RCB, which impacted the side's total.

After not getting an opportunity to bat against RR, Venkatesh Iyer was dismissed on 3 off 9 against MI, resulting in KKR getting all-out for a low score. One of the key reasons for KKR's failure in posting big totals can be attributed to Iyer's bad form.

Meanwhile, Rinku Singh was one of the six retained players by the franchise. The hard-hitting batter has been going through a rough patch in international cricket as well in the early part of IPL 2025.

Rinku returned with a knock of 12 off 10 balls against RCB, a game where he was expected to provide a solid finish to the side. In his last outing against MI, Rinku started well but was dismissed on 17 off 14. It will be interesting to see if he can come up with a different plan to turn his fortunes around in the coming games.

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#2 Mediocre performance of pace bowlers

The Knight Riders possess a pace trio of Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, and Spencer Johnson.

During the game against RCB, Arora and Johnson bowled two overs each, while Rana delivered a solitary over in the powerplay. Although Rana gave away only five runs, the other two pacers were expensive, as RCB scored 80 runs in the first six overs. After the end of the game, only Arora could pick up a solitary wicket, with all three pacers giving over 10 runs per over.

The RR game saw them return with an impressive performance. Rana and Arora picked up two wickets each, while Johnson bagged a single dismissal.

Johnson (0/14) and Rana (0/28) were ineffective in their first two overs of the game against MI, as the opposition sealed the chase easily. Certainly, the wickets upfront from the pacers will help KKR win more games in the 2025 season.

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#3 Lack of confidence in Andre Russell's abilities

Andre Russell has been one of the most consistent performers for KKR, with contributions in both departments. Hence, he was retained by the team management for the 2025 season as well.

However, there has been lack of trust shown by KKR in Russell's abilities, as witnessed in the first three games.

In the opening encounter against RCB, the Caribbean all-rounder could only score 4 off 3, and didn't delivered any over. The RR game saw KKR only using five bowlers, with Andre Russell not even bowling a single over.

The last fixture against MI witnessed the 36-year-old getting clean bowled on 5 off 11 balls. Surprisingly, the impact player, Manish Pandey came ahead of Russell, who batted at No. 8. Russell bowled for the first time in this season, and was the only wicket-taker for the side, with figures of 2/35 in 2.5 overs.

It is worth noting that Andre Russell bowled only seven overs in 10 games for the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in the International League T20 2025. With no reports of injury scare, Russell is likely balancing his bowling workload. However, him not coming to bat early will surely hurt KKR's chances of posting big scores on the board.