KOLKATA: After the IPL auctions ended on January 28, a big chunk of Twitterati invested in the fate of Kolkata Knight Riders were fixated on one particular aspect of the team: their squad size.
"This is the second time around that Kolkata have the smallest contingent, and their main players have no back-ups" was their general prognosis; perhaps an inadvertent jinx that took its full toll on the Men in Purple and Gold in the immediate future.
Over the next fortnight, Dinesh Karthik's pace-bowling options were scythed down to half the size. Injuries claimed their speedster trump cards Mitchell Starc and Kamlesh Nagarkoti; a total of `12.4 crore was flushed down the toilet even before the tournament had begun. For a team with a home ground that has metamorphosed into quite the haven for pacers over the past few years, these two were huge blows.
Unsurprisingly, the repercussions materialised. Mitchell Johnson and Tom Curran were tried, but they were treated like pinatas by the opposition, as evidenced by their combined economy of 10.72 while yielding eight scalps. Shivam Mavi's maiden sojourn turned out to be quite the nightmare, with his name etched in the first two slots of the most-expensive-over table of this season, courtesy Shreyas Iyer and Jos Buttler. That they have only one speedster with double-digit scalps in Andre Russell tells a tale in itself.
Even as the weather in Kolkata on Tuesday mirrored this doom and gloom for the home team through incessant showers, batting coach Simon Katich pointed out one particular silver lining that will hold them in good stead against Rajasthan Royals during their Eliminator clash come Wednesday.
"To have the quality of Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav for being able to bowl a tough over has helped. They have been crucial during the death and the middle overs. Their getting breakthroughs during different stages has been instrumental."
And, much like the tweaker-toting Knight Riders of yore, spinners have been the ones who have been papering over these cracks, with their gun twirler Narine leading the way once again. It shouldn't come as a surprise that he's the sole bowling regular with an economy of below 8, and is also leading the dismissal list with 16.
His spin lieutenants Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla too have to have hit their stride this month. The former's stepping up to the plate in their last home clash — not so coincidentally against Royals — with his best IPL figures of 4/20 was used by Katich to derive another whiff of hope for Kolkata.
"That Rajasthan game is how we wanted it from our first game. When you've got three spinners, you want the ball to spin a bit. The pitch here has been good for batsmen, but that last game was when our guys got some purchase."
With Kolkata's spinners already having sent back batsmen 31 times to the dugout in only seven clashes at Eden Gardens, in Katich's own words, "It promises to be a fantastic contest" for Kolkata.
rahulravi@newindianexpress.com