Floundering Morgan and Co. in desperate need of a quick turnaround

Let us state the obvious straightaway, Eoin Morgan has been horrible so far in the Indian Premier League 2021, and so have been Kolkata Knight Riders. The two-time champions, who started their campaign on a winning note, have lost their last four encounters and are languishing at the bottom of the points table. Meanwhile, KL Rahul hasn't been perfect either but has played a key role in Punjab Kings' two victories so far in this edition.

Punjab too won their season opener but then lost three on the bounce. The Men in Red however managed to turn things around on Saturday and defeated Mumbai Indians by nine wickets in Chennai. The action now shifts to Ahmedabad for the first time this season and Punjab would be riding high on confidence when they take on Kolkata at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Monday (April 26).

* All stats updated till April 24, 2021.

RAHUL v MORGAN

Rahul has been criticised a lot for his strike rate but has already made two match-winning contributions in five games, something that Morgan is yet to do. Rahul announced his arrival in IPL with a blistering 91 against Rajasthan Royals, but was rightly lambasted for his 51-ball 61 against Delhi Capitals on a flat Wankhede surface. As a result, Punjab fell 15-20 runs short of the ideal target and were restricted to 195, which Delhi chased down with utmost ease. On Saturday, Punjab were chasing a target of 132 on a tricky Chepauk surface but Rahul crafted a sedate knock of 60* off 52 deliveries and only left the field when the job was done.  

The right-handed opener knows how to bat according to the situation, something that he will have to continue to do if PBKS want to move to the top half of the points table. Meanwhile, Morgan has only scored 45 runs in five innings and has the worst batting average and strike rate amongst all the eight captains this season. The World Cup-winning skipper had a pretty good season last year but has failed to lead from the front in the ongoing edition. As a captain, Morgan has been a bit defensive and made a couple of tactical blunders. The 34-year-old wants his team to play "smart and free-flowing cricket" but will have to step up and deliver himself.

TIME FOR GILL TO STEP UP

"Mark my words, Shubman Gill will be one of the highest-scoring individuals by the end of the tournament. He's an absolute class act." KKR's chief mentor David Hussey knows how talented Gill is but the young opener hasn't been to stamp his authority yet in IPL 2021. Gill has only two scores of above 20 in five innings and has failed to play his role to perfection. The 21-year-old has enough hitters around him, so even if he could operate at a strike rate of around 130-135, it would do Kolkata a lot of good.

In IPL 2021, Gill has only managed 80 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 121.21. The stylish right-hander has neither been able to score at a rapid pace nor has managed to get those big scores and lay a solid platform for the middle-order. At the moment, Gill looks a bit confused. He smashed 21 off nine deliveries against RCB in Chennai but was super defensive against Rajasthan - 11 off 19 - in the previous encounter. He doesn't have to look too far away, Gill could do what Rahul does for Punjab and it might do wonders for Kolkata. The opener however will have to keep the scoring rate in mind because "strike rate is not overrated".

KKR NEED TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT, PBKS NOT SO MUCH

There are not many players Kolkata could leave out but the Men in Purple need to come up with something different to give their campaign a much-needed boost. Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi have been their best batsmen, while Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell have blown hot and cold. It would be difficult for KKR to leave any of them out, and then you also have Gill and Morgan. Kolkata have the second-lowest batting average (20.8) and the worst balls per wicket ratio (14.9) and their batting unit would be eager to turn things around.

Kolkata have got players like Venkatesh Iyer, Gurkeerat Singh and Pawan Negi in their squad and could bring one of them to add some firepower to their batting set-up. If the conditions permit, Iyer could be a viable option. The all-rounder from Madhya Pradesh was outstanding in the 2020-21 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, scoring 227 runs in five encounters and picking up two wickets with his medium pace. In the bowling department, Varun Chakravarthy has been consistent but apart from him, almost every other KKR bowler has struggled. Pat Cummins has starred with the bat but hasn't done enough with the ball in hand. And, that's where Lockie Ferguson could come in and be the enforcer.

Meanwhile, Punjab seem to have got their combination right with the inclusions of all-rounders Moises Henriques and Fabian Allen. The latter could easily be replaced by one of the seamers if the conditions demand. The likes of Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda and Shahrukh Khan have all been in decent form but the PBKS team management would want Nicholas Pooran to get back to his best as soon as possible.  

PROBABLE XIs

Punjab - KL Rahul (c & wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Moises Henriques, Shahrukh Khan, Fabian Allen, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh.

Kolkata - Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer/Gurkeerat Singh, Pat Cummins, Varun Chakravarthy, Shivam Mavi/Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson.