Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane sent an early statement ahead of IPL 2026, showing his intentions with a blistering knock in a practice game. The veteran batsman scored 58 runs off just 25 balls, before scoring his half-century in just 20 balls before voluntarily allowing other players time in between.Despite a disappointing 2025 campaign, where KKR finished eighth with just five wins from 14 matches, the franchise continued its support. Rahane as captain. The 37-year-old was their top run-scorer last season with 390 runs from 13 matches at an average of 35.45 and a strike rate of 147.73, even as the team struggled to defend their title.Heading into the new season, Rahane made it clear that he is taking on the responsibility with a calm and optimistic outlook. “Every year, there are different challenges as a player and also as a captain. What I have learned throughout my journey is to be positive every time, whatever the challenges,” he said during the team’s first media interaction.“I have been leading the team since last year and am really grateful to the franchise for giving me this responsibility to lead the team. Taking everything in my stride, everything in a positive way. There are always opportunities, there are challenges, you always see opportunities.“My mindset has always been throughout my career that if I see a challenge or especially, if there is a difficulty, I look at it positively and try to do my best as a player and as a captain,” he added.Bearing in mind the lessons of last season, Rahane stressed the importance of a strong start while maintaining consistency throughout the tournament. “As a team, we’d like to get off to a really good start this season,” he said.“It’s a long tournament and you don’t want to peak too early. As a team, and expectations from the guys, basically, you don’t really see a perfect game. Mistakes are going to happen throughout the tournament.”“But as a unit, what we would like to do is to play a positive brand of cricket. So as a unit, as a team management, we are really confident about this team that will do really well this season.”KKR enters IPL 2026 with a new team, especially in the batting department. The franchise parted ways with veteran players like Andre Russell and Venkatesh Iyer, while making significant investments in the auction, including the record signing of Cameron Greene for Rs 25.20 crore.The new-look squad includes attacking options such as Finn Allen And Tim Seifertside by side Sunil Narayan And Rahane is at the top of the order.Despite the depth in the batting, Rahane chose not to reveal the team’s total. “The batting group we have this year is amazing. I mean most of the batsmen are in good form. The boys from overseas are also good, very good Nick. Had a very good World Cup as well.“Look, to be honest, I’m not going to tell you the lineup we’re going to go with, but like I said, all the hitters that are here right now are very good in Nick, very good in Nick, and we just started our camp before that, very excited for the season,” he said.
