IPL 2019 | What worked and what didn’t - Kolkata Knight Riders

After an emphatic start to the season, where they won four out of five games, KKR plummeted quickly. In fact, they had an RCB-like run in the middle losing six consecutive matches. Had they managed to win even one of those, particularly against RCB or RR at home, they would have made the playoffs. But as their assistant coach Simon Katich said at the end of the tournament, those defeats were bound to hurt them at some point and finishing fifth is probably what they deserved. Another factor that went against them was poor decision making at crunch moments. That's not to say that there weren't any positives.

Their biggest positive was Andre Russell's murderous batting form but with that came an unhealthy reliance on the all-rounder. It didn't help as he often had very few overs to play with and was left to bail them out of tricky situations, rather than set matches up.

Shubman Gill’s excellence at the top

Gill kick-started his IPL journey with a bang, smashing two sixes off Shakib Al Hasan to carry his side over the line alongside Russell. He later opened the batting with the same aplomb, amassing 189 runs from five innings at the top. 

Nitish Rana’s brilliance

There is nothing more pleasing for a franchise than a domestic talent flourishing with the bat in the middle, it adds strength to the core. Rana’s prosperity in KKR’s middle-order was a testament to the said belief. This season, he punched above his weight and made an impact at whatever position he took guard. With 344 runs in his basket at an inspiring strike-rate of 146.38, Rana has certainly developed into a vital cog for KKR.

What didn’t work

Sunil Narine at top

KKR’s middling spin bowling

KKR have banked heavily on their bowlers, especially the spin troika of Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla. Though they always had a fine pool of batsmen, their bowling have been the key reason behind their success, but a relaid Kolkata surface didn’t offer anything to the tweakers. KKR were too reluctant to make the changes and persisted with the misfiring trio for a long stretch. The spinners hardly tightened the noose around the oppositions leave alone the idea of picking wickets. Eventually, the looming axe fell on Kuldeep Yadav, whose poor numbers denied him from getting a go in the last five games. Chawla bowled well in patches with the new ball but conceded ample of runs in the middle.  

It does not take any rocket science to figure out that your best batsman needs to face as many deliveries as possible. And by looking at the form Russell was in, he could have been utilised better. He was hitting those monstrous sixes at a ratio that was inversely proportional to Unadkat’s success.

In the all-important game against MI, which was a virtual knock-out, Russell walked out to bat when KKR were already in hot water and unfortunately, the golden duck didn’t help the side in any way.

The KKR pace attack hardly had any confidence, though they were marred by injuries, the available strength hardly posed a threat with the ball. In fact, KKR had one of the worst bowling attacks in the tournament. Lockie Ferguson was everything but economical while Harry Gurney’s slower ones were easier to pick and Prasidh Krishna struggled for consistency. Russell had a modest season with the ball, yet he was the pick of bowlers, but with the kind of form his peers were in, the Caribbean had to do a lot more than what he did.

Dinesh Karthik and Robin Uthappa’s lean form

Robin Uthappa's presence only adds solidity, but this season he fizzled out more often not. His most awful performance came in KKR’s last league stage encounter against MI, where he struggled to connect the harder he tried.