Ravindra Jadeja picked 2/8 in his 3 overs for RR against KKR.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) finally gained a win in the IPL 2026, as they defeated Rajasthan Royals (RR) on April 19 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Rinku Singh led KKR to victory with a superb 53 off 34 balls, while Anukul Roy scored 29 off 16 to lead the team home in the last over of the fiercely contested match.
Former India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin chastised Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag for his captaincy errors at the end of the game. Ashwin criticized Parag for not trusting Ravindra Jadeja, the team's most experienced player, with the ball, despite the fact that he had taken two wickets in three overs while allowing only 8 runs.
"You have a world-class left-arm spinner. Sure, numbers and data can tell you something, but he has conceded only 9 or 11 runs in three overs and taken two wickets. When Rinku Singh tried to hit, he was so close to getting out, but you thought, 'I am an off-spinner; I can put pressure on these two left-handers, but Jaddu won't be able to.'
Though Ravi Bishnoi can, you felt Jaddu won't be able to. I am telling you, this is the mindset. It is possible that Jaddu bowls and the batter hits two sixes, but by not bowling him, you are not showing trust in your bowling unit in the long term," Ashwin said in the video, lambasting the RR captain.
Ashwin stated that he doesn’t deny the analyst data of bowling left-arm spinners against left-handed hitters but said that Parag's lack of trust in Jadeja is baffling, as he was one of RR's best bowlers on the day.
He even stated that by not using Jadeja and not trusting him to do the job, Parag might have planted a seed of disbelief in the left-arm spinner’s mind, that he is no longer good at bowling to left-handed batters.
"If a left-arm spinner knows he isn't wanted against a left-hander, he won't even try. As a captain or team management, if you are telling him, 'This is not your job,' look at what happens to the ball. You won four out of five games, and in this party, if Ravindra Jadeja had taken that wicket of Rinku Singh, he would have been the man of the match today. If he becomes the Man of the Match, the Rajasthan Royals become a solid 7-8 player team; the way your team looks then is so good.
"It is possible that you can lose, but understand that you should lose with one of your better bowlers having bowled. Does it ever happen that you don't send Mitchell Marsh to bat? You don't send Rishabh Pant? You don't send Nicholas Pooran? That never happens. So, what I am saying is that if you can take Brijesh Sharma, who has no experience in the IPL, and give him the 18th and 20th overs in his first game, you can definitely give them to Jadeja. You can give them to Bishnoi, but you can also give them to Jadeja," said Ashwin.