“I will take the blame” - Ajinkya Rahane after KKR’s 16-run defeat to Punjab Kings

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Ajinkya Rahane took the whole blame on himself for playing the wrong shot to get out in KKR’s 16-run loss to the Punjab Kings on Tuesday, April 15, in Chandigarh.

Moving into the details of the game, KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane’s dismissal off Yuzvendra Chahal flipped the game upside down as the team collapsed badly from there to suffer a poor loss. According to the visuals on the screen, Rahane wasn’t keen to take DRS as he shook his head and headed back to the pavilion.

Though his partner Angkrish Raghuvanshi called the skipper for a discussion, Rahane decided not to take DRS. In the replay on the big screen, it was evident that Rahane would have survived as the impact of the ball was outside off. 

"I'll take the blame, I played the wrong shot and missed, but it started from there. I didn't want to take a chance at the time, I wasn't sure as well. wicket was not that easy, 111 was chaseable, we batted really badly as a batting unit, bowlers did really well against a strong Punjab batting line up. I thought we were reckless, and should take full responsibility as a unit. Too many things going through my head. Very disappointed. Need to keep myself really calm and think about what I'm going to talk to the boys," he said at the post-match presentation.

After opting to bat first, Punjab Kings scored only 111 runs in 15.3 overs. In response, KKR could score only 95 runs in 15.1 overs, losing the game by 16 runs. PBKS experienced spinner Yuzvendra Chahal bagged his career-best IPL figures of 4/28.

"Nothing to explain, we all saw what happened there. Pretty disappointed with the effort. I'll take the blame, I played the wrong shot, although it was missing. He wasn't very sure (his chat with Angkrish after being given out LBW). He said it could be the umpire's call. I didn't want to take a chance at that time, I wasn't sure as well. That was the discussion," Rahane sai

"Not really (was NRR in mind?). We batted really badly as a batting unit, we take full responsibility. Bowlers did really well on this surface, restricting a strong Punjab batting lineup to 111. As an individual, you still have to be confident and positive,” he added.

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