“He is not able to transfer his body weight forward”

Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif has identified a technical flaw in Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Ajinkya Rahane. His comments come ahead of KKR’s IPL 2026 game against Mumbai Indians (MI), scheduled for Wednesday, May 20 at Eden Gardens.

Speaking on the Star Sports segment ‘Game Plan,’ Kaif opined that Rahane is a back-foot player who has played good shots against rising deliveries. However, he pointed out that on fuller-length deliveries around the 4-meter zone, which should be driven, the right-hander has been staying on the back foot and has not been able to transfer his body weight forward. He said:

“What is his style of play? He (Ajinkya Rahane) is a slightly back-foot player. Whenever there is a rising delivery, he plays good shots like the punch or the pull. But when the ball is in the hard length area, within a 4-meter zone, his feet hardly come forward. On balls that should be driven, his body weight stays on the back foot. He is not able to transfer his body weight forward properly.”

The 45-year-old further stated that Rahane has not been playing enough front-foot shots, saying:

“Many times in this entire IPL, on balls in the 4-meter zone, he is playing shots from the back foot instead of going forward. So the body weight transfer is low. He is not playing enough front-foot shots, the classic drives are missing in the V. He does play the pick-up shot and can handle short balls on the body and cut rising deliveries. But on fuller balls where you want to drive, his front foot gets a bit stuck and he is unable to transfer his body weight properly. So that is the issue. He is definitely out of form. But you never know, in a crucial match, a big innings might still come.”

In 12 innings this season, the 37-year-old has amassed 251 runs at an average of 22.81 and a strike rate of 130.72, including one fifty.

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In the same discussion, former KKR seamer Umesh Yadav stated that whenever Finn Allen has scored runs and batted through the powerplay, the franchise’s ability to chase or score quickly has improved. He said:

“In the matches where he’s (Finn Allen) scoring runs, we have seen that KKR’s ability to chase or score runs is very good. If he manages to bat through the powerplay, they can chase any total comfortably. Finn Allen is a batter who can completely change the game.”

The right-hander has amassed 321 runs in nine innings at an average of 40.12 and a strike rate of 221.37, including one fifty and one hundred.