IPL 2020 – Season Review: Kolkata Knight Riders – a journey full of experiments

Kolkata Knight Riders, a team which has a rich legacy in the IPL, came into this season promising to achieve a lot. They had a brilliant team on paper, the perfect blend of youth and experience. However, things don’t always turn out the way you expect them to on the field. They lost a few games, won a few lucky ones, but they never really played like a champion side, until their last game. They had a change in leadership mid-tournament too and luck wasn’t with them as KKR finished at 5^th position, missing out on a playoff spot due to NRR. Let us look at the positives and struggles of KKR’s topsy turvy campaign and what lies for them ahead.

Positives

The biggest positive for them this year was Varun Chakravarthy. After failing to make an impact last year for KXIP, he was coming into this year without the burden of expectations. That seemed to have given him the freedom to play to his potential. He outshone not just one of India’s premier spinners Kuldeep Yadav, but also a stalwart like Sunil Narine. He picked up 17 wickets in 13 games at an economy of just 6.84. His impact was immense because he managed to pick up the majority of his wickets in the middle overs of the game when batsmen try to settle and avoid risks. He picked 14 wickets from 6-15 overs at an economy of just 6.43. His outstanding performance even earned him an India call up. He could be a potential game-changer for KKR in the years to come.

A superb blend of class + composure ✨@RealShubmanGill showcased some fine performances with an enviable technique in the IPL this season ?#KKR #Dream11IPL pic.twitter.com/VxTC4jT1wS

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) November 9, 2020

Their second biggest positive was the good run of form of their youngsters. Shubman Gill, who had massive expectations riding on him, piled up 440 runs in the season with 3 50s. While he had a low SR of 118, he is just going to get better with age. But the fact that he took responsibility and scored a large volume of runs will please the KKR management. Nitish Rana too had a good season. While he was slightly inconsistent, he still scored 352 runs at a strike rate of 138. He has been playing IPL for the last few years, and this was his best season in terms of runs scored. These two youngsters showed a lot of promise and could be the pillars of KKR’s batting for a long time.

What went wrong?

The biggest problem for KKR this year was their unnecessary over experimentation, especially with their batting line up. Apart from Shubman Gill, nobody batted at a fixed position. Nitish Rana batted all numbers from 2-4. Sunil Narine, who started opening, went down to number 7 then floated in the middle order in the latter parts of the tournament without much success. Dinesh Karthik, a renowned finisher, was sent at no 4, 4 times, where he managed just 7 runs. Rahul Tripathi was made to open, then bat at 7 in the next innings. KKR’s captain in the latter half, and their best batsman, Eoin Morgan kept coming lower down the order. There just seemed to be too much chaos and no set plans in place at all. This prevented KKR from using their batsmen to the best of their potential.

Last time Kolkata Knight Riders didn’t have both Sunil Narine and Andre Russell in their playing XI during an IPL match was on 10th April 2012 vs RCB.

KKR played 129 consecutive IPL matches with either of Narine and Russell in the playing XI. #IPL2020 #KKRvRCB

— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) October 21, 2020

Secondly, unfortunately for KKR, most of their overseas players underperformed. Narine was found out early in the tournament as a batsman and scored only 121 runs in 10 games. He also picked just 5 wickets, the least he has ever picked in a season since his debut in 2012. Andre Russell too had a sub-par IPL. While he was suffering from injury, in the 10 games he played, he got just 117 runs at a SR of 144, his lowest since 2015. Pat Cummins, who was supposed to be their impact bowler, picked 4 wickets in their last league game, but before that had just 8 wickets in 13 games to his name. The poor form of 3 out of 4 of their overseas players put extreme pressure on the inexperienced youngsters which led to a lot of difficulties.

What next?

Despite their shortcomings, KKR yet possesses one of the most exciting squads with tremendous potential. They need to stop experimenting excessively and give defined roles to batsmen. They would also be better off releasing Cummins and perhaps ponder over getting him back at a cheaper price. They can then use the excess budget to get in an Indian all-rounder to reduce their dependency on overseas players. They also need to decide their top 2 picks from Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Prasidh Krishna, as a constant rotation of these 3 young fast Indian bowlers, prevented any of them from getting into a rhythm. If KKR can iron out these problems, they could be well on course to win the title next year.