Kolkata: Is the chink in Kolkata Knight Riders ’ armour becoming visible? The way they lost two of their last three games, it seems the purple brigade is missing out on a finisher. At the halfway stage of the tournament, KKR head coach Chandrakant Pandit would be a worried man as they gear up to play Gujarat Titans at the Eden Gardens here on Monday.
Against Lucknow Super Giants and Punjab Kings, the defending champions were cruising smoothly before they crumbled. In a high-scoring match against LSG at the Eden, chasing 239 for victory, KKR smashed 90 in the Powerplay. Even in the middle overs, they stayed on course but lost the plot at the death, losing five wickets for 23 runs in the space of 20 balls to fall short by four runs.
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Against PBKS, very few expected KKR to come second while chasing a target as low as 112. At 62 for two in the eighth over, victory seemed to be a foregone conclusion before they endured a sensational collapse losing their last eight wickets for just 33 runs to lose by 16 runs.
KKR’s success last season came much due to the flowing starts that they got upfront. But this time, their openers Sunil Narine and Quinton de Kock have failed to provide such blistering starts putting the onus on the middle order. Despite batting deep with Ramandeep Singh coming in at No. 8, KKR have managed to put up 200-run totals only twice so far.
There’s no doubt that KKR have banked heavily on their ‘RRR’ by retaining Rinku Singh , Andre Russell and Ramandeep before the last mega auction. But halfway through the season, the trio has failed to live up to expectations. Things will not get any easier against GT who perhaps have the most disciplined bowling attack in this IPL.
Mohammad Siraj and Prasidh Krishna have combined so well that the side is not feeling the absence of Kagiso Rabada. At the same time spinner Sai Kishore has also stood up to fill in for a below-par Rashid Khan.
Probable XIIs: Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Sunil Narine, Quinton de Kock (wk), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Moeen Ali.
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (capt), B Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, R Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar/Ishant Sharma.
Against Lucknow Super Giants and Punjab Kings, the defending champions were cruising smoothly before they crumbled. In a high-scoring match against LSG at the Eden, chasing 239 for victory, KKR smashed 90 in the Powerplay. Even in the middle overs, they stayed on course but lost the plot at the death, losing five wickets for 23 runs in the space of 20 balls to fall short by four runs.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel.
Against PBKS, very few expected KKR to come second while chasing a target as low as 112. At 62 for two in the eighth over, victory seemed to be a foregone conclusion before they endured a sensational collapse losing their last eight wickets for just 33 runs to lose by 16 runs.
KKR’s success last season came much due to the flowing starts that they got upfront. But this time, their openers Sunil Narine and Quinton de Kock have failed to provide such blistering starts putting the onus on the middle order. Despite batting deep with Ramandeep Singh coming in at No. 8, KKR have managed to put up 200-run totals only twice so far.
There’s no doubt that KKR have banked heavily on their ‘RRR’ by retaining Rinku Singh , Andre Russell and Ramandeep before the last mega auction. But halfway through the season, the trio has failed to live up to expectations. Things will not get any easier against GT who perhaps have the most disciplined bowling attack in this IPL.
Mohammad Siraj and Prasidh Krishna have combined so well that the side is not feeling the absence of Kagiso Rabada. At the same time spinner Sai Kishore has also stood up to fill in for a below-par Rashid Khan.
Probable XIIs: Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Sunil Narine, Quinton de Kock (wk), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Moeen Ali.
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (capt), B Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, R Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar/Ishant Sharma.
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