Ajinkya Rahane Rinku Singh for KKR. Image Credits: AFP
Kolkata Knight Riders, one of the most promising teams for the IPL 2026 title, have suffered a miserable fate, losing two of their two games already.
While the batting and bowling department includes Harshit Rana-less Vaibhav Arora and Blessing Muzarabani leading the pace attack, and Ajinkya Rahane leading with the bat alongside Finn Allen and Angkrish Raghuvanshi, the team game has been on the downside as a whole.
Amid this failure, KKR’s key pacer Vaibhav Arora has rallied his support behind the thought of removing Ajinkya Rahane as the captain of KKR from IPL 2026. The 28-year-old Arora, who has been in the team since 2023 and played under Shreyas Iyer, secretly revolted against the current captain.
What Did Vaibhav Arora Do To Show Dissent With Ajinkya Rahane?
Popular cricket journalist Rohit Juglan, on April 3, shared a video of him speaking on what Kolkata needs to do better to script a comeback in IPL 2026. While the video seemed harmless at first, Juglan voiced his opinion on Rahane willingly stepping down as the captain of KKR.
“There’s only one thing Kolkata needs to do right now. There’s no need of a reset, I am going to show you just two examples that changed the history in IPL. In 2018, Gautam Gambhir stepped down as a captain for Delhi Capitals and Shreays Iyer, stepping in place of him, did wonders. In 2013, Ricky Ponting gave up the captaincy to Rohit Sharma and Mumbai Indians won teh title in that same year.”
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Juglan hinted at how sacrificing the role of captaincy of particular individuals helped teams do better. After building the context, Juglan hinted at Ajinkya Rahane’s dos and don’ts.
“KKR’s team is not bad at all. But if you look at Rahane’s innings, Varun Chakaravarthy’s bowling and the poor start with the bat in powerplays and the inexperience in fast bowling, something dosen’t add up. When Rahane was your third choice as a captain, it is seemingly unfit to make him one, since he is not the piece of the puzzle the Knights were looking for. Rinku Singh might be a better fit than him.” Juglan added.
While the reel was already a controversial one with fans giving mixed reactions on Juglan’s reel, Vaibhav Arora was found liking the reel, and hence, secretly supporting the removal of Rahane as the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders.
Rumours Of Crack Up Inside Kolkata Knight Riders Camp?
Although there have been no rumours previously of a crack-up inside the Kolkata camp, Arora’s inclination for the removal of his captain hints at the troubled wiring inside the dressing room.
Interestingly, for the unaware, Ajinkya Rahane, though, was earlier found taking a sarcastic dig at Cricket Australia over Cameron Green’s bowling restrictions.
This, too, raised questions on Rahane’s equation with the team management and also hinted at a ‘not-so-cordial’ communication between the captain and KKR franchise.
Nevertheless, Rohit Juglan’s reel has garnered 308K views in the span of 24 hours while having 13K likes on the video. While his opinion was a bit controversial, his facts were correct, given the improvement of the Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals franchises after the stepping down of their former skippers.
Vaibhav Arora’s IPL 2026 Exploits
Meanwhile, Vaibhav Arora has been expensive in IPL 2026. From the two matches he played, Arora scalped only 3 wickets for KKR while bowling at an expensive economy rate of 12.37.
However, he has been a key pacer for the Knights in the absence of Harshit Rana and Matheesha Pathirana, as Blessing Muzarabani is also heading the pace lineup alongside him.
Whether the Ajinkya Rahane-led team improves their form or not, they will have another chance at a comeback when they play their next match against the Punjab Kings on April 6.
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