Kolkata Knight Riders have been all over the place with their team selection and tactics in this year’s Indian Premier League. Some baffling calls left the pundits and fans equally startled.
From under-utilising Andre Russell to sticking with Sunil Narine at the top despite his woeful form to sending Angkrish Raghuvanshi, a top-order batter at No. 9 or sending Rinku Singh lower down the order in a high-intensity chase against Lucknow Super Giants, the calls have been atrocious.
The match against Punjab Kings at Eden Gardens was no exception. Let’s look at the tactical errors by this team in the first half of the game itself. These will remain glaring even if KKR manage to pull off an incredible chase against the likes of Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal.
The obstinacy of Vaibhav Arora
Vaibhav Arora’s strength is swing. He searched for swing in his first over against Priyansh Arya. The pitch offered him none. But Vaibhav, much like the team management this season, was adamant. He searched for more swing. In the process, he dished out full tosses, perfectly pitched-up slot balls for Arya and Prabhsimran Singh, the two in-form opening batters for Punjab, who tore into him.
Much like the team, there was no plan B from the bowler. No back of the length, no slower balls, no cutters — nothing. He got hammered and went for 22 in his first two overs.
Dropping a spinner on a slowish surface
KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane had been vocal about spin friendly surfaces at KKR’s home ground of Eden Gardens. When given one, the team management dropped a bonafide wicket taker, Powerplay bowler and KKR’s third front-line spinner, Moeen Ali and replaced him with West Indian power hitter, Rovman Powell. Moeen had done nothing wrong in his outings for KKR this season. He consistently held one end up while picking up wickets.
Only one over of spin in the Powerplay
Vaibhav, Chetan Sakariya and Harshit Rana bowled the first five overs of the Powerplay. Prabhsimran and Priyansh took full advantage of the faster bowlers, knowing this track might help spinners later and walloped 54 runs in those overs.
The moment Varun Chakravarthy came on to bowl in the last over of the Powerplay, he conceded only a couple. When you see your fast bowlers travelling why not switch to spin straightaway? Why wait for the game to slip out? Narine has been a frontline Powerplay bowler for KKR. Oh wait, Moeen performed this role to perfection in a few matches this season, only to get benched on a slowish track. In fact Priyansh has got out to spinners four times in eight innings before this game. Both Priyansh and Prabhsimran got out to a spinner last game against RCB and that spinner was Krunal Pandya, surely Narine could have done better?
No slower balls
The first wicket of Punjab Kings fell when Priyansh tried to slog a slower ball of Rusell and got caught in the deep. Till then, except a few balls from Sakariya, no slower or back of the hand balls were tried by any KKR bowler. Harshit and Vaibhav continued to bowl full, continued to leak runs and lacked any sort of planning whatsoever.
On this kind of a surface, slower balls and back of the length balls were difficult to get away but those balls were rare from the KKR bowlers. Dre Russ bowled a lot of those and bowled beautifully, only to not finish his full quota. Question will arise after this match, why wasn’t he given more overs in the previous matches? Surprisingly, there was no such communication in the strategic time out as well. Indication that the management has already given up this season?
The mystery of Rovman Powell
Rovman Powell was looking great in the nets, we heard from our correspondents. He finally made his debut for KKR in this match. Whom did he replace? Moeen Ali. Realistically, he replaced Ramandeep Singh as KKR looked desperate to bolster their fragile batting. Russell and Powell both are like for like all-rounders. Both are power hitters. Question is, with Angkrish coming in at No 4 as the impact sub (if at all), where will Rovman bat? Surely not at 9? It’s too low a position for a T20 specialist like him. But this management has a history of sending even Raghuvanshi at No. 9, so this remains a mystery. Moreover, you sacrificed your best fielder. Hope it comes off.
Lack of specific planning
Last year, when they became champions, KKR planned strategically and specifically for teams and players. Be it stopping Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, be it dealing with quality bowling, they had their plans in place. This year, there’s simply no intent. Priyansh and Prabhsimran raced to 120 odd in 11 overs on a slowish surface without any trouble. What was the plan? And why will you hand a debut to Sakariya when two of the best batters of this year’s IPL are opening?
After Priyansh and Prabhsimran got out (KKR was lucky with Prabhsimran’s wicket as it was a rank full toss), KKR bowlers finally managed to put the brakes on the Punjab batters. Is it too little, too late? The second half will tell.
For the Latest Sports News: Follow RevSportz