"Rahane and Raghuvanshi cannot play together" - Aakash Chopra on KKR's batting in IPL 2025 win vs SRH

Former India player Aakash Chopra has questioned the Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) batting order in their IPL 2025 win against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH). He opined that Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi should not bat together for the defending champions.

Rahane (38 off 27) and Raghuvanshi (50 off 32) stitched together an 81-run third-wicket partnership as KKR set SRH a 201-run target in Kolkata on Thursday, April 3. The home team then bowled Pat Cummins and company out for 120 to register a comprehensive 80-run win and climb to fifth spot on the IPL 2025 points table.

Reflecting on KKR's batting in a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener noted that Rahane and Raghuvanshi's slightly slow partnership left the remaining batters with an uphill task.

"Ajinkya Rahane played at No. 3 and became slightly slow after the powerplay. Angkrish Raghuvanshi has become this team's permanent No. 4. It's an unpopular opinion, I love the kid, but I feel Rahane and Raghuvanshi cannot play together. Raghuvanshi scored a fifty, and Rahane also scored 38 runs, but you take the team to a position from where you need a miraculous finish," he said (13:30).

Chopra added that Venkatesh Iyer might have played a more substantial knock had he faced a few more deliveries.

"Such a finish comes at times and doesn't come on other occasions. It came this time. Both batted well. However, one of the two can play, but if both play together, Venky Iyer is pushed too low. He got to play only 29 balls. He scored 60. He would have scored 80 or 85, and maybe 90, if he had played 40 balls and had been in the same form," he observed.

Venkatesh Iyer top-scored for the Kolkata Knight Riders with a 29-ball 60. He added 91 runs for the fifth wicket with Rinku Singh in just 6.5 overs after Rahane and Raghuvanshi's dismissals.

---

"Venkatesh Iyer shouldn't play at No. 5" - Aakash Chopra on KKR's batting order in IPL 2025 win vs SRH

Venkatesh Iyer was dismissed in the final over in KKR's IPL 2025 clash against SRH. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra opined that Venkatesh Iyer shouldn't bat at No. 5 and Ramandeep Singh shouldn't be slotted at No. 9 in the Kolkata Knight Riders' batting order.

"It seems as though I am saying something unnecessarily for a winning team. You might say you found a KKR hater, but I am talking for their good. Firstly, why is Ramandeep at No. 9? He should bat up the order. Venkatesh Iyer shouldn't play at No. 5," he said (14:55).

The cricketer-turned-analyst added that Rinku Singh hasn't spent much time at the crease for KKR since the start of IPL 2024 and that the franchise could have posted a bigger total in Thursday's game.

"From the first match of 2024 till now, Rinku Singh has played 16-plus balls only twice, and one was in this match. You have kept so many players but are reluctant to send them up the order. You scored 200 and had wickets in hand. It might be in your mind whether you left a little more on the surface," Chopra observed.

Rinku Singh scored an unbeaten 32 off 17 deliveries in KKR's IPL 2025 clash against SRH. While Andre Russell faced only two deliveries, Moeen Ali and Ramandeep Singh didn't get to bat.