So far in the IPL 2025, Kolkata Knight Riders have won five of eleven games and placed sixth on the points table. All of their games right now are do-or-die events since one loss could destroy their playoff prospects. The Ajinkya Rahane-led team will take on Chennai Super Kings on May 7 at the historic Eden Gardens, next up. Typically, a sizable portion of the audience wears yellow whenever Dhoni plays in Kolkata. The same holds true for other grounds as well. But, according to KKR head coach Chandrakant Pandit, his players will be concentrated and ignore the noise since he thinks the Dhoni mania will not affect them.

“I believe every player and every team is constantly concentrated on their own game during these sort of games. I mean, during such times, if a batter is batting and there is so much noise, he would probably respond, “I didn’t hear anything about it,” Pandit said in the pre-match briefing. “It was the same with me when people used to remark on so much noise around and how one could concentrate.” Often, though, we just disregard that sound instinctively. When you are concentrated on the game, it is clear that it matters less if you ask me, he continued.

Pandit noted that the squad is not under pressure as the tournament’s business end approaches. He also noted that the batting order hasn’t come together this year but hopes they will rise in the following three league games.

Not quite (under pressure). I don’t want to return. We sometimes think we have the best batting order; sadly, it did not click. Hope it will do justice in the next three games. We know every individual player’s capability. We trust in them. To keep that, Pandit added, “you have to provide them a lot of confidence and ensure they believe in themselves.”