KOLKATA: When queried about positives that the Kolkata Knight Riders will carry forward from the win over Rajasthan Royals to the Qualifier clash on Friday, this is what bowling coach Heath Streak had to say.
“We’ve shown that we can fight back after not having the best first-six overs. That’s the beauty of having Kuldeep (Yadav) and (Sunil) Narine. They’ve got the ability to squeeze teams. Even though Royals didn’t lose wickets, we were able to keep a check on their run rate.”
Considering the way the batting narrative has unfolded for Sunrisers Hyderabad, the aforementioned plus-point for Kolkata could very well metamorphose into the straw that breaks their camel’s back. That spin has been their home-ground brahmastra is as open a secret as it can get, if the tweakers’ cumulative haul of 34 wickets at Eden Gardens is anything to go by.
Juxtaposing these facts against how the Orange Army has wielded its willow this season adequately reveals the threat Kane Williamson and his batsmen may be facing. Only two from the SunRisers have went past 300 runs this season — Williamson (685) and Shikhar Dhawan (437). That middle-order mainstays Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan and Deepak Hooda have managed to eke out only two-thirds of the runs notched up by the two is enough to highlight which part of their batting is shouldering the load.
Barring Carlos Brathwaite and his sole show of resilience against Chennai Super Kings this Tuesday, none of their batsmen have a strike rate of above 130. With this part of their line-up being the ostensible target of Kolkata’s spin triumvirate in the middle overs, another below-par outing from them could very well end their campaign.
If their overdependence on the top-order wasn’t enough of a problem, the constant flux that the batting order has been through could further disrupt their stability on Friday. They began by promoting Wriddhiman Saha to open for four matches, but that experiment failed. Further, injuries catalysed a musical chair of sorts at the top, with Williamson shunting himself among the top-three slots to plug the holes. Even stand-in stumper Shreevats Goswami made two appearances first up, but he couldn’t make any impact.
That these jitters have had a cascading effect is evident from their four losses in a row. And what exacerbates the situation further for SunRisers is that they’re up against a team with a truckload of momentum.
Saha, though, feels his team has done its homework, and players have pulled up their socks for the crunch clash. “Our batting hasn’t been up to the mark, especially during the last few matches. Our middle-order has been dealing with a few problems. That’s been one reason behind our recent losses,” said the wicketkeeper-batsman on Thursday.
“Kuldeep and Narine are in good form, but we have our plans for them. We’ve had discussions after our loss against Super Kings. We’re looking at every match like a final, and we want to win every game.”
rahulravi@newindianexpress.com