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Follow UsTwo consecutive seasons of loitering close to the bottom on the seventh spot, and finally, the sweet view from the top!
Kolkata Knight Riders have had quite a journey in this current auction cycle, and now, finally, it seems to have reached a level where they aspired to be right from the start.
Not only has their batting been firing all guns this season, but their bowling has managed to hold its own in a blood bath of a season for the bowlers. The result of such performances is in front of the KKR fans, who finally have something to celebrate after two years of bottom-of-the-table drudgery.
But this also raises the question - what clicked for KKR this season, which was missing in the last two seasons? How did they manage to become this well-oiled machine that even managed to beat Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede 12 years after the day when their owner was banned from the stadium?
As you all will see, the ingredients for this success were all there in the team itself. Let’s see how it all came together for KKR in IPL 2024.
The dazzling duo of Salt and Narine
KKR struggled to find a consistent opening pair in the last two seasons. However, right from the start of this season, they have opened with Phil Salt and Sunil Narine, and both have lit up this year’s IPL with their ridiculously belligerent batting in the powerplay.
KKR have scored 70 plus runs in the powerplay six times this season and have the highest scoring rate in that phase.
While Salt was coming with a reputation for big hitting at the top of the order, Narine surprised everyone by unleashing an even more destructive version of himself with the bat and, unbelievably, is third on the list of highest run scorers this IPL. Meanwhile, Salt is fifth.
This has allowed KKR to give freedom to all the upcoming batters to carry on the momentum given by the openers, and they have done so quite successfully, as they have been the best batting team across all three phases of the game.
A batting order averse to bad form
Incredibly, at the moment, it feels like every one of KKR’s batters is in form. In fact, only Rinku Singh is one of KKR’s top seven batters who are averaging below 20 this season. But he’s still striking at 146.5, showing his maintained touch.
The likes of Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer and Ramandeep Singh had to prove themselves in a batting lineup full of big hitters, and their respective strike rates of 155.2, 142.4 and 200, along with decent averages prove that not only they have performed well, but probably exceeded expectations as well.
Combine it with the decent batting form of Andre Russell and Shreyas Iyer, and you have a batting lineup with hardly any lacunae.
For Shreyas, the performances of the uncapped Indian players stood out quite a bit, as he said in the post-match presentation after the game against LSG. In the absence of seniors like Nitish Rana, who holds the middle leader for KKR, the performances of these players have lifted KKR from falling into the mid-table muddle.
Russell is Russelling
There might be the impact substitute rule, but when you have a genuine all rounder on your side like Andre Russell, he’ll always be worth his weight in gold.
In what has been a subdued but highly effective season, Russell has scored 198 runs at an average of 33 and a strike rate of 186.8. With the ball, he has continued to pick up wickets right from the first over of his spell, with 13 wickets in 11 innings at an average of just 17.5!
In the case of his batting, KKR unlocked his full potential by allowing him the right entry point - which is mostly just a few overs before the death where he can come and begin the onslaught.
The Spin Twins and their magic
In the last three games, Chakravarthy has picked up eight wickets at three different venues combined, including a 2/22 in their historic victory at the Wankhede. He has used the help available in the track to really good use, and is holding up the middle overs for his side. Overall, he has picked 16 wickets at an economy of just 8.8 in a season where the ball has flown more than it has stayed on the ground.
When you combine his numbers with Narine, who, apart from absolutely dominating with the bat, has also picked up 14 wickets at a godly economy of 6.6, you have eight overs of spin that would be extremely tricky for any opposition.
Any wonder KKR have done so well this season?
Stability in the lineup
One underrated but extremely crucial part of KKR’s campaign has been the trust shown in their players. In very CSK-esque fashion, they have used only 16 players this season. In fact, going one step ahead of the yellow team, they have the lowest changes made/match record this IPL, with just 1.1 changes made per game.
Certainly, one needs to credit Gautam Gambhir and coach Chandrakant Pandit for maintaining this level of stability in the team and backing the players with a lot of trust. After all, it has given them the results they had desperately waited for in the last two years.
