KKR’s Selections Issues: In the TATA IPL 2023 season, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) side hasn’t been a consistent team till now.
Apart from Rinku Singh’s magic and some blitz from Jason Roy and Shardul Thakur, the other players are yet to step up with the bat.
Their newly appointed skipper Nitish Rana had got starts but he too has not converted them.
The Purple Army, Kolkata Knight Riders is placed eighth in the current points table of this ongoing season. KKR has played nine matches, won just three and lost six games.
After the Delhi Capitals side won their third match yesterday, now the last three teams of this season are tied with six points each.
Alongside Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals are also with six points. Tomorrow i.e. May 03, the orange army will take on the purple army.
The last time when these two teams met, Harry Brook smashed an unbeaten century that allowed SRH to win that game in Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
The KKR side won the IPL titles in the seasons of 2012 and 2014 under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir. But since then they have qualified for the finals just once in the 2021 season under the leadership of Eoin Morgan.
Andre Russell and Sunil Narine have been part of this franchise since a long time and also when KKR won the two titles.
But in the absence of their regular skipper, Shreyas Iyer, the two power hitters of the Windies side haven’t stepped up and that is the main concern for them.
As the all-rounders, Russell and Narine are yet to deliver for the Knight Riders side. In the next game, KKR should look beyond them now.
The power hitter from the Windies side hasn’t looked that threatening with the bat in the nine matches he has played till now. KKR is yet to witness the Russell magic in the Indian Premier League season 2023.
So far Russell has scored just 142 runs in this edition with a poor average of 20.29.
Russell hasn’t lived up to his expectations this season. He has been the power hitter for the KKR camp. However, he has lost his Midas touch of hitting the balls into the stands.
He has failed to score the runs consistently and Russ hasn’t been successful in smashing the deliveries out of the park. With the ball, Andre has just picked up six wickets till now.
Another West Indian cricketer has been criticized this season. Sunil Narine, the spin bowling all-rounder too didn’t have a good season which is another reason for KKR’s downfall.
In just nine matches, Sunil has amassed just 13 runs so far in this season. Narine’s batting hasn’t had that spark and he hasn’t used the limited opportunities in this edition.
KKR can try him as an opening partner of Jason Roy, who has looked in good form. Sunil had a strike rate of 81.25 and an average of 3.25.
With the ball, Narine has lost the magic of a mystery spinner and now everyone knows what he is bowling. Sunil has been leaking runs this season.
His economy rate and average has been going upwards after every match. Narine is not a threat to any batter now. His economy rate is 8.81 and his average this season is 40.29.
The IPL is a platform for the younger Indian players to shine and also groom under the legends of cricket.
Many IPL franchises have given chances to many youngsters and those players have represented the country and that should their final goal. But the KKR franchise has been over-dependent on overseas players.
However, apart from Jason Roy, the Indian players are the ones who have bailed the purple army out many times. Andre Russell and Sunil Narine have failed miserably in nine IPL games which KKR has played till now.
Shardul Thakur, Rinku Singh, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer and Varun Chakravarthy have rescued the side so far.
The Purple Army should think of options for replacing Narine and Russell. They should not be over-dependent on them.
Shardul Thakur should be a regular feature in the playing XI. Lord Thakur is a good batter and his knock against RCB showed that he possesses that batting talent. Shardul has scored runs in England and Australia as well.
Tim Southee, Jason Roy, David Wiese and Rahmanullah Gurbaz should be the four overseas players in the playing XI of Kolkata Knight Riders.
The ideal playing XI of KKR for their game against SRH – Venkatesh Iyer, Jason Roy, Nitish Rana, Mandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(wk), David Wiese, Shardul Thakur, Tim Southee/Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy and Suyash Sharma.
