IPL 2025: Big blow for Kolkata Knight Riders as star player opts out from remainder of tournament

Kolkata Knight Riders, the defending champion of IPL 2025, is currently hanging on a thin thread, which can land the team at the exit gate of the tournament, set to resume on June 17. The team struggled from the beginning of the season and now attracted more inconvenient situations in their ongoing journey as their one major foreign player pulled himself out from the tournament and another overseas player is suffering from an injury crisis. 

In the latest media report,and all-rounder Moeen Ali opted out of the remainder of the Indian Premier League 2025, describing his personal reasons. Without theced all-rounder, KKR's recruitments for the all-rounder department have gone thin. Along with Ali, West Indies cricketer Rovman Powell is reportedly suffering with injury, consulted with medical staff, and is now waiting for an update, which makes him uncertain for the rest of the IPL 2025 campaign. According to the latest media report, the Kolkata-based franchise is now probably looking for at least one substitute with a short-time contract.

Like the team, 37-year-old Moeen Ali's performance so far has been underwhelming this season. The all-rounder has played 6 IPL 2025 matches where he batted in only 2 innings for 5 runs. Bowling performance shaped slightly better than the batting stats; with the ball, Ali took 6 wickets in 6 matches with an economy rate of 8.50. 

Two of KKR's overseas players are set to miss the remainder of #IPL2025 https://t.co/5llwgp2n9O pic.twitter.com/z6elCcjrDP

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) May 15, 2025

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On the other hand, despite having an impressive figure in limited-over formats, KKR mostly kept the batting all-rounder in the dugout and opted to play him only in 2 contests, where Powell scored only 5 runs. 

KKR's upcoming fixtures:

Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs. KKR, May 17, M. Chinnaswamy Stadium

Sunrisers Hyderabad vs. KKR, May 25, Arun Jaitley Stadium. 

Kolkata Knight Riders is currently at the 6th spot of the points table with 11 points in 12 games.