New Delhi: Depression on Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane’s face was clearly visible as his team suffered yet another defeat, losing by 32 runs to Chennai Super Kings in their IPL 2026 clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday. After the loss, Rahane shook hands with the players, congratulated the CSK camp, and then went straight to talk to the broadcasters.KKR have had a tough season so far and are currently at the bottom of the standings.In five matches, they are yet to register a win, four losses and one draw. With just one point and a net run rate of -1.383, KKR have significant ground to cover in the coming games.“I think it’s difficult at the moment. Yeah, we’re not winning matches, it’s difficult. What’s important for all of us as a group is to stay positive, keep your head up, keep your chin up, just focus on the moment,” Rahane said after the match.“Yes, we have to sit in the dressing room, think about the combination. We have to make some changes. Sometimes you support the players, the results go your way, that’s fine. But if the results are not going your way, you have to think about the combination. But other than that, I thought it was all about staying positive,” he added.After posting 192/5, CSK restricted KKR to 160/7, with Noor Ahmed returning impressive figures of 4-0-21-3.Ruman Powell (31 not out) and Ramandeep Singh (35) put up resistance with 63 runs, but it was not enough to prevent defeat.“No real speed with the bat. Absolutely. I thought with the ball, we bounced back really well. 190 on that wicket was really good, especially the power play they got, 70 odd runs. After that, it was an amazing performance by our bowling unit to get back to 190. I thought initially that with our batting, we got only 36 or 37 runs in the powerplay. I thought that was really important. The middle phase, the spinners were a bit difficult to hit, but other than that, the wicket was really good. We needed a batsman to bat deep and then take it at the end,” Rahane said.For KKR, Karthik Tyagi took 2/35, while Sunil Narine returned figures of 4-0-21-1.“(On Tyagi) I think all the credit goes to him. I mean he’s working really hard in the nets. He’s bowling really well and with great talent. The pace he’s bowling at the moment is amazing. So I’m very happy for him. Game-wise, he’s improving his skills. The spinners too, he bowled really well. It was not easy for the batsmen to hit big sixes unless you bowled really richly. It was easy. Otherwise, putting it back and then going across was not an easy option for the batsmen. So I thought from both sides, the spinners bowled really well. We just have to, like I said, keep that head up and just stay positive and believe in ourselves,” he added.KKR will next face Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium on April 17.
