“High Time Ajinkya Rahane Becomes Selfish”: KKR Skipper Called Out For Match-Changing Blunder

The Indian Premier League (IPL) witnessed an all-time thriller on Tuesday as the Punjab Kings (PBKS) edged the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in a low-scoring contest. Punjab only managed to put 111 runs on the board on a tricky pitch that offered a lot to the bowlers. In response, Kolkata were bundled out for just 95, hence losing the contest by 16 runs. Rahane’s dismissal, on the bowling of Yuzvendra Chahal, turned out to be the game-changing point for the Knight Riders as the team simply failed to recover after the skipper’s loss.

However, what hurt the visiting side the most was the fact that Rahane would’ve stayed on the pitch had he decided to review the LBW decision by the on-field umpire.

Going by the visuals on the screen, it looked like the Kolkata captain was not keen on taking a review. He shook his head after the umpire raised his finger to PBKS’ strong appeal and decided to make his way back to the pavilion. He was even called back by the non-striking partner Angkrish Raghuvanshi for a discussion. Even after a chat with his partner, Rahane decided to not review the call and make his way back to the dressing room.

But when the replay popped up on the big screen, it became clear that had Rahane opted for DRS, he would have survived as the impact of the ball was outside off. Seeing Rahane deciding against taking a review, hoping to save it for his teammates coming afterward, former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif urged the KKR skipper to be a bit more ‘selfish’.

“High time Rahane, the team man becomes a bit selfish. He should realise, he is KKR’s main batsman, he needs to take DRS if there is slightest of doubts. #KKRvPBKS,” he tweeted.

After the match, Rahane also admitted that he is blaming himself for the wrong decision to not use DRS over his LBW dismissal.

“Nothing to explain, we all saw what happened there. Pretty disappointed with the effort. I’ll take the blame, 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 umpire’s call. I didn’t want to take a chance at that time, I wasn’t sure as well. That was the discussion,” he said in the presentation ceremony.