Ramandeep Singh revelled in his no-holds-barred hitting. As Kolkata Knight Riders trained at Chepauk on Thursday, Ramandeep was taking on Dushmantha Chameera and Chetan Sakariya in one of the centre pitches. He was middling almost every delivery.
Ramandeep hasn’t batted much in this IPL. In 14 games, he was required to turn up in nine innings. He remained unbeaten in five of them, scoring 125 runs at a strike-rate of 201.61. His team doesn’t judge him by the number of runs he has scored. At No. 7, his job is to throw the kitchen sink at the death, whenever he gets a chance to bat. The game against Lucknow Super Giants on May 5 was a case in point.
Ramandeep came out to bat at the fall of Rinku Singh’s wicket and hammered 25 not out off six balls to take KKR’s total to 235. It was another example of the team’s all-round cricket. Every player has a clear role, which needs to be adhered to. KKR have been the best team in this IPL and their march to the final is not down to individual brilliance. They have thrived on collective cricket.
Here are some hard numbers. Sunil Narine is KKR’s highest run-scorer in this tournament so far. But he hasn’t crossed the 500-run mark yet – 482 runs in 13 innings at a strike-rate of 179.85. Narine has made match-winning contributions instead, forming an excellent opening partnership with Phil Salt in the process. The latter has now returned home for national team duty, but without his 435 runs in 12 innings at a strike-rate of 182.00, and more importantly his association with Narine at the top, KKR wouldn’t have such a successful campaign.
“Don’t look at what they (Narine and Salt) have been doing individually. Look at what they have been doing as a partnership,” KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir told reporters early in the season. After taking charge, Gambhir made it a point that team effort would be at the forefront of his team’s charge.
From Shreyas Iyer to Venkatesh Iyer, and Andre Russell and Rinku Singh, nobody has scored a bucketload of runs in this campaign. But everyone has contributed to the team’s cause. In bowling also, Varun Chakravarthy is the highest wicket-taker with 20 scalps, and wickets around him have been shared. Russell has 16 wickets, Harshit Rana has 17, Narine has accounted for 16 scalps at an awesome economy rate of 6.90 and Mitchell Starc has raised his game at the right time to take his tally to 15.
Compare this with Royal Challengers Bengaluru for example. Virat Kohli finished with a staggering 741 runs from 15 innings. The next on the list was Faf du Plessis’ 438. Not a single RCB bowler went past the 15-wicket mark. There’s a reason why the Bengaluru-based franchise suffered another setback, a six-game winning run notwithstanding.
KKR looked a broken team last term. As David Wiese, the Namibia international, who represented the side in 2023, had said: “There were certain issues going on behind the scenes in the team. Guys weren’t happy with certain things that were going on.” Players like Narine and Russell didn’t seem to be enjoying themselves. It has been widely accepted that Gambhir’s arrival prompted the change this season. His first team talk set the tone for KKR’s campaign. “Everyone came and chipped in with responsibility. The rejuvenation was important,” Shreyas said after reaching the final.
If Gambhir has been taking care of things off the field, Shreyas is taking decisions on it, without any interference. And his captaincy has been superb.
On Friday, Sunrisers Hyderabad will face Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2 and the winners will meet KKR in the final on Sunday. Unlike KKR, both Sunrisers and Royals have been dependent on certain individuals to win matches.
Sunrisers falter when their opening duo, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma depart early, as was the case in Qualifier 1. In Jos Buttler’s absence, Royals’ batting is heavily dependent on Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag. KKR, on the other hand, have game-changers aplenty, players who can rise to the challenge in pressure situations. T20 cricket is exciting because of its unpredictability. And yet, KKR not winning the title this year would be an upset.
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