Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Ajinkya Rahane sustained an injury to his right hand while fielding at extra cover during their win against Delhi Capitals (DC) on Tuesday night. The injury occurred when Rahane attempted to stop a drive from DC opener Faf du Plessis off Andre Russell’s bowling.
The ball struck Rahane’s finger as Du Plessis completed a single. Following the incident, Rahane was seen shaking his hand in discomfort and left the field accompanied by the KKR physio. The injury happened on the first delivery of the 11th over, which was ruled a no-ball due to Russell overstepping.
Rahane did not return to the field, and with vice-captain Venkatesh Iyer being subbed out for Vaibhav Arora as an Impact Player, the captaincy was handed over to all-rounder Sunil Narine. KKR successfully defended their total of 205, restricting DC to 190/9, despite Du Plessis scoring a half-century.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Ajinkya Rahane downplayed the injury, saying, “Not bad. I’ll be OK. I’ll be fine.” According to ESPNcricinfo, KKR’s medical team is scheduled to evaluate Rahane on Wednesday morning to assess the extent of the injury.
KKR Clinch Fourth Win in 10 Games
The victory marked KKR’s fourth win in 10 matches this season, keeping them in seventh place on the points table. Despite the result, Rahane admitted that the team fell about 15 runs short of what he considered an ideal target.
“204 on that wicket was good, but I thought we were 15 runs short, frankly. We were going really well as a batting unit. But again, you’re chasing 204, you know as a fielding team, you are one or two wickets away, and that’s what happened,” Rahane said.
“When Sunil came into bowl and picked up two wickets, and when they lost three wickets in the middle, I thought that was the game for us,” Rahane said at the post-match presentation. He’s been a champion bowler for this franchise. A match-winner. As a captain, good to have him and Varun (Chakaravarthy),” he added.
KKR will now enjoy a four-day break before they resume their campaign with a match against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Eden Gardens on Sunday.
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