IPL 2020: Match 8: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs. Sunrisers Hyderabad

Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders were two teams who had yet to open their accounts after the first 7 days in IPL 2020. Both were desperate to get their campaign on track as they met each other at Abu Dhabi yesterday. IPL is a very long tournament and hence its always important to get some momentum in your side otherwise the motivation falls and it gets very difficult to come back. It’s even harder this time around with no “Home Grounds” and no “Home Crowd” to root for you from the stands.

Here are my 5 points from yesterday’s match.

1. Pat Cummins’ comeback

The premier fast bowler whom KKR bought at a hefty price this year looked off-color in the first match. But he was back with a vengeance yesterday and his very first ball stamped his class with a back of length delivery to David Warner. He didn’t give a single hittable ball in his quota of 4 overs, 3 of which he bowled inside the power play. His returns of 1/19 in 4 overs were the best among both the teams and by the look of things Pat Cummins would be a threat to all participating teams this year. KKR needs him to be at the top of his game in each and every match due to the inexperience amongst its bowling resources.

2. Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy & Nagarkoti 

KKR invested heavily in young players over the last couple of years. After the 2018 U19 World Cup win, KKR went aggressively to secure the purchase of a few U19 rookies. Two of them were Mavi and Nagarkoti. Both these youngsters were the frontline pacers of the Indian campaign in New Zealand 2 years back. Unfortunately, Nagarkoti got injured and was sidelined for close to two years. Even Mavi was injured for one year but credit to the management that they didn’t let them go and finally we found both of them playing together. I have been waiting for 2 years for this to happen.

Both bowled just 2 overs each and looked sharp as well. I just hope they live up to their potential.

Varun Chakraborty was a hefty recruit by Kings XI last year. An unknown mystery spinner who can turn the ball both ways without any change of action – Varun was decimated at Eden Gardens last year and his IPL journey seemed to have ended.  Kings XI didn’t give him another chance and was let off at the end of the season. This year, KKR took him and he looked a far different bowler than the one that turned up last year. His line was impeccable and he didn’t give any lose balls. The last ball of his quota of 4 overs went for a six otherwise his bowling figures would have been exactly the same as Cummins. That he bowled his full quota and Kuldeep didn’t bowl his drives home the point. By the look of things, it seems this year Varun will get an extended run. Getting the wicket of the dangerous looking Warner must have given Varun a lot of confidence for the rest of the tournament.

KKR is overtly dependent on young Indian players and hence it’s important that this group take this as an opportunity to stamp their class.

3. Manish Pandey

Manish Pandey according to me is the right-handed Raina. Not only is he an aggressive batsman, but he is also a terrific fielder too. That he didn’t get an extended run in the Indian Cricket team boils down to luck because he got injured during a crucial phase and other young players came in and established themselves. He is an important clog in the SRH setup because SRH is another team that has a lot of uncapped or inexperienced young Indian players. For SRH to succeed, Manish has to play a very important role because they are way too much dependent on Bairstow and Warner. Manish has to not only be the finisher but also has to sometimes rebuild the innings and take it deep. In this context his innings of 51 yesterday was the sole reason why SRH got to a total of respectability.

4. Shubman Gill 

Shubman Gill is one player about whom everyone is talking about for more than one year now. Last year he played some handy knocks in the IPL and he has been a very consistent performer in the domestic circuit too. He captains the India “A” team as well. Though he is yet to break into the playing XI of the Indian team the time is not far off. He was cool as a cucumber yesterday. Not only was he aggressive yesterday but when the situation demanded he completely cut down on stroke-making and concentrated on rotating the strikes. He seems to have a problem with the rising ball outside the off-stump though. In the last match he fell into that sucker pull and today he looked in discomfort too with similar kinds of deliveries. This problem seems to be more with left-arm pacers. He needs to work on this aspect but probably there are not many left-arm pacers around the nets in the KKR setup. He consciously made amends though and I could distinctly see that he was trying to roll his wrists over while attempting the pull shots. He is a fast learner and I am very sure he will overcome this with the help of Brendon McCullum and David Hussey.

His 70 runs yesterday was the highest score in IPL history to contain no misses or edges. So the highest chanceless knock ever in IPL history.

Well played Shubman Gill. KKR will hope that he continues with this form of his in the coming matches.

5. Eoin Morgan

Morgan was a star recruit for KKR this year. He had played earlier for KKR too but now Eoin Morgan is the captain of the world cup winning team and the man who is regarded to have turned around the English limited overs set up. To get a man of his caliber is of great importance for this team because it means Dinesh Karthik has someone to fall back upon in the field because Morgan is a great leader. If you ask me, Morgan should actually lead this team in place of Dinesh. Yesterday he started circumspectly and tried to sweep every ball against Rashid. Fortunately for him, he didn’t get out in that initial struggling phase because towards the end he started toying with the bowlers. He is a class act and once he gets into the groove he can take away the match from any opposition. His innings of 42 off 29 balls yesterday must have come as a breath of high relief for KKR because after a long time in recent memory that KKR won a match chasing without Russell.

Though KKR won the match yesterday one needs to look at things holistically and understand that SRH itself is struggling so winning against a struggling team doesn’t mean that the loopholes have been plugged.

Is going with 7 bowling options the right way to go about for KKR?

Making Naraine open – is this the right way to go?

Does Tom Banton get a look in?

Does Kuldeep hold on to his place?

When does Williamson come back for SRH?

Will SRH sacrifice Bairstow to play an out and out fast bowler in Billy Stanlake?

Lots of questions to be answered!

Before I end, let me wish the only KKR man to hit a century in IPL and the current Head Coach of the team, Brendon McCullum a very happy birthday!

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