Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the reigning champions, are in a tough spot in the 2025 IPL season. Well, it’s a shocker. KKR on the points table in 2025 is hanging too low, and that aura of invincibility they once had? Gone. Now, there’s just this huge sense of frustration and disappointment.
To get to the bottom of this dramatic turnaround in their fortunes, we need to take a good, hard look at KKR performance in IPL 2025 so far. It’s a whole mix of problems, from some questionable decisions at the auction to how they’ve played (or, more accurately, not played) on the field. We need to seriously analyse the KKR recent matches and what it means for KKR playoff chances.
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KKR Recent Matches：The Fall From Grace
What kind of genius strategy was it to astray from their winning combinations and aim for a complete overhaul of their whole squad? Everybody is asking this same question right now. You know how critics and experts were sceptical of the squad they built for the IPL 2025 edition during the mega auction last year, well, they weren’t wrong. A lot of decisions they made during that auction have come back to bite them in recent matches.
But the funny part is that what was pointed out as the greatest weaknesses of the team before going into the season, those same things have now pretty much become the reason for their downfall. And the lowest point of this fall was their inability to chase a low score of 111 runs against the Punjab Kings.
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 15, 2025
Even their valiant effort against LSG wasn’t enough to win them the match, costing some valuable points for KKR on the points table in 2025. However, these two matches aren’t the only examples of the dismal KKR performance in IPL 2025. But we aren’t here to discuss KKR’s losses, rather, we should be discussing what’s causing these failures.
KKR Playoff Chances：The Seeds of Current Predicament
1. Top Order’s Inefficacy
As you might know, a reliable top order is crucial for any team to get a formidable start in a match. Well, they have to lay a pretty strong foundation for the rest of the batting lineup to stand on, failing which might lead to a batting collapse. And the latter has been the case in most of KKR recent matches.
Let’s move forward 💪 pic.twitter.com/OiiHXfNx9t
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 9, 2025
The opening pair is the only mismatch here. To be honest, Ajinkya Rahane at no. 3 has been doing what he can, but if the openers fail to perform, he comes under the gun, and many times he too crumbles under the pressure. And believe me, I’m not saying that they’re not performing entirely; it’s just that the consistency isn’t there, which is crucial for posting a winning total on the scoreboard.
You know, it’s tough to put fingers on it, but it’s pretty much evident that Quinton de Kock is the weakest link of the two openers. He fires once a blue moon and then goes dormant for the rest of the matches, which makes you wonder if he’s in the starting 11 just for keeping the wickets. And trust me, Sunil Narine is no prize either, but he’s got a slight edge over De Kock just in terms of consistent runs.
To their utter despair, their experiment with Moeen Ali also went in vain as he too proved to be ineffective in the opening role. Now they’re just stuck with an opening duo that can best be relied upon for anything other than batting.
2. The Middle-Order Letdown
Well, who would’ve believed that a middle-order boasting names like Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, and Ramandeep Singh – all of whom had a great season last year – would disappoint so much? And the even unbelievable fact is that a young, uncapped Angkrish Raghuvanshi would be the only silver lining in this star-studded lineup.
Angkrish on the charge!⚡ pic.twitter.com/Vg2L25Wn9p
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 22, 2025
The biggest letdown for the franchise right now is Venkatesh Iyer, aka their most expensive player, who they purchased for an exorbitant amount of INR 23.75 crore. Can you believe that splurging out such a hefty amount and then getting almost nothing out of it? Pretty disheartening, right? He was a player who could’ve single-handedly affected KKR playoff chances. Alas, he has affected their chances negatively.
Well, this failure is a collective effort, and if it wasn’t clear earlier, then their recent match against the Punjab Kings should’ve cleared things for everyone. Trust me when I say this, it was and will be the worst KKR performance in IPL 2025. How can you justify losing against a total as low as 111 runs? And that too while batting in the second innings when the pitch conditions hugely favour batting. It’s just so baffling, and I completely blame it on the middle order who could’ve achieved this target single-handedly.
3. The Pace Department Being a One-Man Show
To be very frank, Harshit Rana is the only one keeping KKR’s pace battery alive; otherwise, they don’t have enough firepower in their pace attack. Now, the KKR management would’ve realised that letting go of Mitchell Starc was a huge mistake.
W 6 0 1 0 W – Harshit Rana, 19th Over 💜🔥 pic.twitter.com/mIn98yHexG
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) March 26, 2025
KKR recent matches have shown their inexperience in their pace assault that has put immense pressure on the spin bowlers. Vaibhav Arora tries to pick up the slack, but Spencer Johnson and Anrich Nortje are just disappointing for the calibre they possess. It leads KKR playoff chances seems tough.
KKR Performance in IPL 2025：Problems Need to Fix
Are these the only reasons dragging KKR on the points table in 2025? No. Plenty of other factors are affecting KKR playoff chances, but for now, these are the big ones that need to be addressed. And who knows if they manage to find a solution for all these problems, then they might be able to improve their situation for the rest of the tournament.
