IPL 2026: S Badrinath says captain Ajinkya Rahane is KKR`s weak link

Former CSK batter S Badrinath has labelled KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane as a `weak link` of the team ahead of IPL 2026.

Badrinath has raised doubts about the three-time winners` campaign with fewer than ten days till KKR`s tournament start against the Mumbai Indians (MI). The two-time IPL champion did not hold back while criticising both the team`s growing injury worries and KKR`s general management.

“Ajinkya Rahane is definitely a weakness. His captaincy itself is a weak link. All their big investments have gone wrong. They trusted Harshit Rana and invested in him, but he is ruled out. Pathirana was a huge signing, and now he`s doubtful. Mustafizur was another big investment, and he is ruled out. They`ve taken many costly decisions as there is uncertainty over most of their big investments,” Badrinath said on his YouTube channel.

Additionally, Badrinath criticised the team for spending big on all-rounder Cameron Green, who was signed for Rs 25.20 crore. The former CSK player called the purchase a “bad move” motivated by hype rather than demonstrated IPL impact, highlighting Green`s previous failures for Australia.

“You`ve signed him for Rs 25.20 crore, and he is woefully out of form. He struggled massively for Australia in the T20 World Cup. Cameron Green went for so much purely because of the hype. He is not worth that much. Has he singlehandedly done anything in the IPL? Australian players always get hyped up, and he benefited from that. I believe it was a bad move by KKR,” Badrinath further added.

KKR will start their IPL campaign against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on March 29. The first phase of IPL fixtures is out, which will be played from March 28 to April 12. KKR last won the IPL trophy in 2024.

Kolkata Knight Riders squad for IPL 2026:

Ajinkya Rahane (C), Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Cameron Green, Matheesha Pathirana, Rachin Ravindra, Finn Allen, Tim Seifert, Rovman Powell, Blessing Muzarabani, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rahul Tripathi, Manish Pandey, Akash Deep, Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik, Kartik Tyagi, Anukul Roy, Tejasvi Singh, Prashant Solanki, Sarthak Ranjan, Daksh Kamra.