Shamik Chakrabarty
It started with a bang and ended with a whimper. Before the start of this year’s IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders held a fan engagement event, ‘Knights Unplugged 2.0’, where they took the vow to defend the title. Dwayne Bravo, the new team mentor, blasted out his famous Calypso – ‘Champion’. On Saturday, as the KKR’s slim playoff hopes melted in the Bangalore rain, their campaign gave a fragmentary vibe.
KKR fans won’t have to wait until the final league game to see the denouement. It’s done and dusted. A tally of 12 points from 13 matches attested inconsistency. They had their moments, but failed to seize them. The game against Punjab Kings at Mullanpur was the biggest case in point, where the defending champions developed cold feet and failed to chase down 111. Unlike 2024, when Gautam Gambhir was there, the dressing room this time seemingly was bereft of a leader who would say ‘carpe diem’.
Given that Ajinkya Rahane was new to the set-up to whom captaincy came a little unexpectedly, it was head coach Chandrakant Pandit’s job to build on last year’s performance. Pandit had failed to impress in 2023, when KKR finished seventh in the league standings with 12 points. Without Gambhir by his side, he looked lost this season as well.
RevSportz had earlier reported how Pandit was on a slippery slope after final five group league matches became virtual knockouts for the Kolkata-based franchise. It is now reporting that after the limp exit, Pandit’s position has become untenable.
That the team hierarchy had to hurriedly bring back Abhishek Nayar in the middle of the season, on the heels of his Team India departure, served as a clear indication that the head coach was struggling to inspire confidence. KKR, being a mature franchise, didn’t wield the axe mid-season. Now, as the regrouping has become the need of the hour, Pandit is a dead man walking. Nayar could be set for a bigger role. Turning to Eoin Morgan, KKR’s former captain, also remains an option, it is learnt.
The blame has to lie at Pandit’s feet. It’s been a story of collective batting failure for KKR this term. How much help did the batsmen get from the head coach in terms of reviving their form? Why didn’t the team’s most expensive buy – Venkatesh Iyer at Rs 23.75 crore – bowl a single over during the tournament, even in matches where the frontline bowlers were leaking runs?
If Rahane was reluctant to give Iyer a bowl, it was Pandit’s job to convince his captain. What about the tactical indolence that saw Andre Russell bat way down the order for the two-thirds of the season? Russell had scored 72 runs in his first seven innings at a strike rate of 131. He made 95 runs at a strike rate of 207 in his last two outings after being promoted up the order.
After losing the tournament opener against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Rahane spoke about the Eden Gardens pitch, asking for more help for his spinners. Throughout the tournament, tension apparently simmered between the KKR team management and Eden curator Sujan Mukherjee. Unlike Bravo, who tried to douse the fire in almost every press conference he turned up, Pandit fanned it by doubling down on his skipper’s comment. It didn’t augur well for the team.
According to sources, his man-management style – grapevine has it that he confronted an overseas star for dining with a rival team player who happens to be his teammate for the national side – didn’t go down well with a section of players.
During a press conference, this correspondent had asked Pandit if he was under pressure. “No, not really” was the reply from the veteran coach. If he believed what he had said, the 63-year-old probably failed to read the room.