Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane known to be one of the most calm and composed cricketers on and off the field, lost his cool during the post-match press conference after his team lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 65 runs at the Eden Gardens on Thursday.
Rahane scored 8 off 10 balls before KKR were all out for 161 in 16 overs chasing 227. When confronted with a question concerning his strike rate. He said that people talking about his strike rate in the IPL have “certain agenda” against him and are “jealous” about the success that he has achieved.
“My strike rate, I think I have one of the best strike rates so far from 2020. People who are talking about me, probably not watching the game or they have certain agenda against me. They don’t like me playing,” the 37-year-old said.
“They don’t like to watch me play. The amount of success which I got, I guess they are jealous about me. I am not too worried,” Rahane also said.
Rahane made 67 off 40 balls in KKR’s season opener on March 29, which they lost by six wickets to Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium.
“You guys know what I am doing. Just one bad innings. Not a bad innings, but my intent was that sometimes as a batter you don’t get that rhythm, you don’t get that flow.
“People who are talking, they don’t understand the game and I think they want me to play a different kind of inning. They didn’t expect that Ajinkya Rahane will basically improve his game this much. So I am happy they are talking about me, negative or positive either way.
“I am really happy that they are talking, let them talk. But batting-wise, partner-wise, it’s been amazing. We have a very good partnership in Mumbai,” he said.
Rahane, who also led KKR in the last edition of the tournament, had a strike rate of 147.73 last season, scoring 390 runs from 13 matches.
As an opener he said one has to play “fearless cricket” in the first overs, and there would be times when the batter would struggle to get going.
“For six overs, you always look to go fearless cricket. Play fearless cricket with freedom. At times, you will struggle. That’s okay. It’s important to accept. But I know what I am doing.
“I know what I did in the past and I back myself rather than thinking about it. Whoever is talking about me, let them talk,” said the former India Test captain, who led a severely depleted Indian team to a historic 2-1 Test series win in Australia (2020-21).
