The stuttering 21 off that Andre Russell scored off 15 balls, where he struggled to hit the ball against Gujarat Titans’ spinners Sai Kishore and Rashid Khan, was the Kolkata Knight Riders’ all-rounder’s highest score in IPL 2025. He has crossed the double figures only twice in the six matches he has batted this year, and his struggles against wrist spinners have been quite glaring. When former West Indies all-rounder and the current KKR mentor Dwayne Bravo was questioned about Russell’s struggles in the 18th season, he said DreRuss is not the only KKR batter struggling for runs.

“Andre Russell is an experienced and successful player. Yes, in a couple of games, the leg-spinners got him out. But I don’t think we are batting well as a team. That is the reality. Russell is not the only one struggling. As a group, we have to ensure players are backed. We need to keep preparing well. IPL is a tough tournament. If you don’t start well, batters can go into a period where they lose confidence,” Bravo told reporters at the Eden Gardens after KKR lost to GT by 39 runs on Monday.

Russell started his innings with a boundary and a six off Washington Sundar, but when Sai Kishore and Rashid Khan were brought from both ends, his runs dried up. He had little clue which way the ball was turning and was out stumped off a Rashid googly. It was the second time Russell was out to a leg-spinner in this IPL after being dismissed by RCB’s Suyash Sharma in the tournament’s opening match.

Bravo saidRussell’s struggles against the wrist spinners are nothing to be worried about. Instead, the KKR top-order should take the onus on themselves to provide good starts to make the job easier for finishers like Russell and Rinku Singh.

“Not every team has leg-spinners and today he was up against a quality spinner like Rashid Khan. When Russell walks in to bat, every time the run rate is at 14 or 15 runs per over. Work needs to be done at the top to give him a chance to finish off games like he has been doing all these years for KKR. Yes, leg-spinners got him out a few times, but I don’t think that is a big concern. We just need to bat better (at the top) to allow our finishers the chance to finish games,” Bravo said.

KKR rejigged their batting order, playing Rahmanullah Gurbaz in place of a struggling Quinton de Kock at the top of the order and batting Venkatesh Iyer at No.4 but nothing worked for the defending champions as they were always behind the required run rate in their 200-run chase.

Openers Sunil Narine and Gurbaz failed to get them off to a good start and Venkatesh Iyer (14 off 19) and Ajinkya Rahane (50 off 36 balls) scored runs but their strike rate was an issue, especially in the powerplay.

KKR’s top-order, which did the bulk of the scoring last year, has seldom fired this season as Narine, de Kock and Rahane have not quite been able to what is expected of them inside the powerplay.

Rahane admits top-order failure against GT

Chasing 199, KKR batters stuttered to 159/8. KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane, who scored a half-century, also admitted that the top-order’s performance has been below par.

“I thought 199 was chaseable, we came back into the game really well with the ball. You expect good opening starts, but that’s what we’re struggling with throughout the tournament. We need to learn as quickly as possible,” Rahane said a the post-match presentation ceremony.

While the KKR bowlers have shown steady improvement, Rahane admitted that the batting group hasn’t pulled its weight.

“The pitch was a little slow, but when we were bowling, we thought something below 210 or 200 would be good. We need to bat better, especially in the middle overs. We need better opening starts, no complaints from our bowlers. Every game they’re improving.”