A LOT OF QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED AND ANALYSIS TO BE DONE. ALL IN THIS BLOGPOST.
Kolkata Knight Riders faced some serious issues with their bowling and fielding. Their fielding was all over the place and not as properly set as it should have been. Kolkata Knight Riders started out with a great initial 2 overs and even their fielding was great, getting hold of each ball. They then progressed and their field got a little loose plus even their field setup wasn’t the best they could have done.
Several catch opportunities did not either arise or were not successful as such due to the placement of the fielders and that cost them a lot of loss of wickets. KKR required wickets, and that is what every team requires against Mumbai Indians because they have a great power hitting and in – form batting line up which goes very deep. KKR failed to get those wickets and stop those runs, which was also partly done by the bowling and the order in which the bowlers bowled.
Shivam Mavi understood the line more perfectly than anyone else and was rewarded for the same. He was able to sing the ball very well and did not crack under pressure and maintained his line and length even in the death overs when the MI batsmen were ruthless and were capitalising on their opportunity of having wickets in hand. He was a great young player for KKR this time around and will remain to be invaluable throughout the whole season.
Pat Cummins didn’t perform well, and far worse than the expectations that everyone had of him. He bowled 3 over and went for more than 40 runs with an economy above of 16.00, which made him the costliest bowler for KKR in the match. Not only was he facing problems with the ball and his length, in which he was being hit out of the park but also he came in a bit later tan he was supposed to. He is an opening bowler but he only got one over in the PowerPlay that also towards the end and he wasn’t able to bowl the same lengths in the death overs.
Andre Russell came in good and the strategy he utilised for his one over in the death overs was definitely borne out of experience. He was bowling fuller and in the yorker area and that is what is not preferred as much by the batsmen, especially the power hitters at that point of time. Andre Russell faired very well and that is what helped KKR a bit.
Coming back to their fielding, if their fielding would have been better, the bowlers such as Pat Cummins might have been helped. The fielders just weren’t set in the right places as per where the bowler was bowling. Even the misfields that took place cost them a lot and helped Rohit Sharma and others keep rotating the strike and building the pressure on the bowlers. It also helped in building that very important partnership between Rohit Sharma and SuryaKumar Yadav. This partnership was special because not only did it help in the death overs but both were great hitters who even time their shots well. These two players are a dangerous duo and when you have such lousy bowling and fielding, both of them were getting the opportunities to score boundaries and they did not require or have a situation where one of them became a wall for defence. This is key to MI’s victory.
In their batting section, they failed miserably. It seemed as if KKR would be able to chase even such a big total, after all their batting line is one of the best in the Dream11 IPL 2020. They still failed. They lost 2 very early wickets and then they just continued to fall. MI tackled Narine very well. Their bowlers were maintaining the right speeds and directions for the balls. They were attacking the batsmen and their fielding was tight. From the saved ones to the fantastic catch by Pandya. The fielding helped build a lot of the pressure. KKR could still go forward and win it, ut they lost it when Dinesh Karthik got out. They still had enough to win is what it seemed to be, but after that wicket the pressure on the two new batsmen increased several folds. DK is supposed to be the batsmen who stays on the pitch and bats for long keeping the runs coming whereas Russell and Morgan or even Nitish get those bunch of boundaries.
The decision by DK to come at No. 3 was great but he failed to convert it properly. Rohit Sharma was utilising his all rounders and he kept mixing his bowling line up but he still sent the right bowlers at the right time. The use of Pollard at the start and then quickly going over the spinners and shifting to Bumrah for the mid – overs, all of this was great, and contrasting to what KKR did.
The cameo by Pat Cummins was amazing and he got out because he was under pressure, it was every ball boundary for a win or just get out trying and that is exactly what happened.
Could he have helped more and probably at least made the game closer if he came in place of Nikhil Naik?
There is no guarantee but probably he should have been sent. He started his career as a batsman and then went on to bowling. He does keep giving small cameos, whereas Nikhil Naik s just the big power unit in him and nothing that much. Pat Cummins is a bowler, so he also understands the mindset of the bowler more. Pat Cummins would have been a pick instead of Nikhil Naik but KKR just didn’t do it?
Do KKR require captaincy change?
Well, that is a tough one to answer. But if this becomes even a tiny bit of a trend in the upcoming matches, then definitely yes.
WHAT CAN ALSO BE SAID FOR KKR IS THAT IT WAS THEIR FIRST MATCH IN VERY DIFFERENT CONDITIONS THAN IN EDEN GARDENS AND MI ALREADY HAD HAD A MATCH AND NEW MORE ABOUT THE GROUND AND HAD GAINED EXPERIENCE ALREADY
|ALL THE BEST TO ALL THE TEAMS AND PLAYERS|
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