Soumajit Dey: Two-time Indian Premier League champions Kolkata Knight Riders has already reached the playoffs of the IPL 2018 and awaiting for its opponent which will be decided later today. They have won 8 matches out of 14 in the league matches and have gone through a mix season so far.
Ahead of their much anticipated match in the playoffs we will talk about KKR’s cause of satisfactions and concerns before the playoffs.
Cause of satisfactions:
Opening pair of Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine: Kolkata Knight Riders opening combo of Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn has given them a lot of good starts in the tournament and Narine’s destructive batting is a bonus for KKR. Destructive form of both the openers is a positive side for Dinesh Karthik & co.
Contribution of uncapped players: Uncapped players like Shubman Gill, Shivam Mavi, Nitish Rana and Prasidh Krishna all have performed really well for KKR. They are the only team along with Mumbai Indians who have given chances most to the youngsters and they have got positive results as well.
Andre Russell factor: His all-round performance with both bat and ball is one of the key reasons for KKR’s success in this year’s IPL. In 14 matches he has scored 264 runs and taken 13 crucial wickets for his side. In the end his destructive batting is a great back up for KKR.
Cause of concerns:
Not getting wickets in the power play: Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers didn’t have a great season so far. They have failed to take wickets in the power play most of the time in this season which have hurt the team a lot. The team management should look at it ahead of the playoffs as they won’t get a extra chance in the knockout stages.
Over dependency on Lynn and Narine: KKR is heavily dependent on Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine in the opening as they don’t have much experienced players in the middle order. If both Narine and Lynn fail in the playoffs that would be bad for Dinesh Karthik & co.
Fielding not up to the mark: In the modern day cricket it’s essential to be good during fielding as good fielding can help a team to win many matches. In this season’s IPL KKR’s fielding is very poor as they dropped a lot of catches in their matches which went in favour of their opponents. The team management should definitely be concerned about this matter.