It’s difficult to win a game of cricket with 10 players. It’s even tougher to do so when two, who are also experienced internationals, don’t pull their weight. But that’s exactly what Kolkata Knight Riders are having to contend with.
Ajinkya Rahane was peeved when his strike rate after the Powerplay was brought up during a recent press conference. A score of 41 in 24 balls – a strike rate of just over 170 – against Lucknow Super Giants may look alright, but isn’t quite so given the benchmark set by openers for other teams. Once his opening partner Finn Allen departed, the scoring settled into a pattern of rotation of strike punctuated with boundaries now and then, even in the Powerplay, as Angkrish Raghuvanshi too played similarly.
In the current IPL, a score of anything less than 60 in the first six overs is unsatisfactory and KKR got 56 only after a 16-run over provided by Avesh Khan to round off the field-restriction period.
After the Powerplay, the run-scoring was brisk rather than express. But it was not for lack of trying; Rahane literally threw his bat at a ball, losing control of the handle as the ball landed beyond the rope at wide third man. That was quite unlike him, as most of his boundaries on the night came through copybook shots but present-day T20 cricket requires something a bit more explosive.
After a relatively underwhelming start and middle, KKR needed their record signing, Cameron Green – pushed one place down to No.4 – to come to the party. But there seemed to be a distinct lack of urgency in the initial part of his innings as he had scored just 9 after his first 14 deliveries. The Aussie all-rounder finished with a 24-ball unbeaten 32. That wasn’t what the doctor ordered for the team after coming in with more than half of the innings gone. But what seemed worse was that only a handful of the runs came off the middle of the bat. Green was resorting to ugly hacks and got most of his runs from edges. The big man, who cost Rs 25.2 crore at the auction, is clearly struggling as previous scores of 18, 2 and 4 suggested. Had it not been for Rovman Powell’s 24-ball 39, KKR wouldn’t have got to 181.
The franchise has a decision to make if they are to remain a factor in this IPL. They either have to adopt a new template or change their personnel. If you can’t change a man, change the man.
