Ajinkya Rahane joins exclusive boundary-hitting IPL club with his valiant fifty against GT

Rahane achieved the feat after hammering five fours during his rollicking half-century and boasts 500-plus fours in the cash-rich league's history. The seasoned batter boasts 502 fours in 193 matches and joined the exclusive club featuring Shikhar Dhawan (768), Virat Kohli (732), David Warner (664), Rohit Sharma (609) and Suresh Raina (506).

Rahane was the lone fighter during KKR's pursuit of a daunting 199-run target. While the rest of his troops fell without making much of an impact, he took the burden of expectations from the defending champions single-handedly on his shoulders.

He kept the scoreboard ticking, punished GT's loose deliveries to keep the hopes alive. He held the one end but lacked support from his compatriots to push the case for the Knight Riders' victory.

His efforts were eventually undone in the 13th over by Washington Sundar. Rahane was outfoxed by GT's all-rounder. Sundar anticipated the charge from the Kolkata skipper and fired the ball outside off. The ball went past the bat, and Jos Buttler completed a fine stumping to put the final nail in the coffin.

Overall, spin has been Rahane's bane in IPL 2025. In 81 deliveries, he has mustered up 100 runs, lost his wicket five times while averaging 20.0 and maintaining a dot ball percentage of 30.1 per cent.

After Rahane's valiant knock came to an end, Andre Russell and Rinku Singh tried to take up the mantle and steer Kolkata towards victory. Russell came in, flaunted his unwavering knack of hitting boundaries, but eventually perished in front of Rashid Khan.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi came in as an impact substitute, struck a couple of boundaries, but couldn't avoid the fate that led to defeat. GT successfully defended its total and trounced Knight Riders with an emphatic 39-run victory.