KKR's Middle-Overs Struggles Continue

Rovman Powell remarked, "Not a 220-250 wicket, I think 180-190 is a good score," after KKR finished at 181/4 against LSG, despite being 98/1 at the halfway mark. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane reaffirmed that sentiment. In a game of fine margins, the three-time winners would reflect that they left runs on the field, a recurring theme since their 2024 title win.

KKR's title defence in 2025 began with three wins and three defeats from the first six games. This included a loss to LSG at home where they stumbled from 149/2 after 12 overs to 201/7, falling four runs short. Their campaign derailed further when, chasing 112 in 14.1 overs against Punjab Kings for top spot, they collapsed from 62/2 to 95 all-out.

The 2026 season has magnified this issue: a failure to maximize the middle-overs after strong starts.

• Against MI: 94/1 after 7 overs (RR: 13.43), but just 56 runs in the next 7 (RR: 8).
• Against SRH: Controlled a chase of 227 before collapsing from 120/3 to 161 all-out in 31 balls.
• Against LSG: Overs 11-15 yielded 17/3 before a late flourish.

KKR's Batting in First 15 Overs (IPL 2026)

KKR Batting in Overs 7-15 (Since 2024)

KKR topped all five key middle-over parameters in 2024 but were worst in all in 2025. In 2026, they rank 8th in run-rate and average runs per dismissal.

Root Causes:

• 2024 Success: Built on Phil Salt, Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer (220 runs, SR 140.12), and Venkatesh Iyer (199 runs, SR 142.14) in the middle phase.
• 2025-26 Issues: Poor opener returns and key batsmen struggling in the middle overs.
  • Ajinkya Rahane: Powerplay (since 2023): Avg 72.87, SR 167.52. Middle-overs: Avg 16.6, SR 125.33.
  • Spin Struggles: Rahane (SR 121.95 vs spin, 171.17 vs pace) and Rinku Singh (SR 125.09 vs spin, 167.42 vs pace) are notably less effective against spin.
  • Rovman Powell: Strikes at 92.98 against right-arm leg-spin in the IPL, with five dismissals in 57 balls.

The irony is that LSG, their Thursday opponents, have been the worst team in Overs 7-15 this tournament (RR: 7.59, 11 wickets at 18.63). Both teams had identical powerplay scores (56/1 vs 56/2), but LSG managed 71/4 in the middle phase to KKR's 59/3.

KKR's seamers bounced out LSG's top order—Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran—by the 12th over. Ayush Badoni's dismissal in the 15th nearly sealed the game before a match-winning performance from 21-year-old Mukul Choudhary. While undone by an exceptional individual effort, KKR will know the game should have been closed out earlier.