EYEING LANDMARKS
ELIMINATOR Aiming to bounce back from a patchy display, Kolkata Knight Riders might feel most threatened by Hyderabad openers Warner and Dhawan
There’s a lot at stake for Kolkata Knight Riders as they take on defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in the eliminator at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, here on Wednesday. They need to turn around a shoddy performance in the last two matches to turn up equal competitors at one of the smallest grounds in India. Avenging their 48-run loss in the group stage should also act as motivation.
Kolkata Knight Riders have won just one game out of their last five matches, and yet, they have somehow managed to sneak into the play-off stages.
That shows their sudden contrast in form from the first half of the tournament . The KKR thinktank will really have to solve this jigsaw and assess what’s going wrong for the side.
Unlike their opponents who’ve been riding the brilliance of openers Shikhar Dhawan and skipper David Warner to set up platforms for big totals, Kolkata Knight Riders’ have been more of a team performance. Apart from the first game where Gautam Gambhir and Chris Lynn stole the show, each of their players have contributed and are responsible for where the team stands today.
Their bowling unit is as strong as their batting, with the likes of Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav taking care of the spin department while the pace battery is spearheaded by Umesh Yadav and the crafty Trent Boult.
However, a few tough decisions might be required to turn around the side’s fortunes, such as taking a call on Yusuf Pathan (143 runs in 14 matches), who has been unimpressive throughout the tournament.
But it depends if the management is willing to take that gamble at such a big occasion. Sunrisers Hyderabad have been pretty solid in their set-up despite losing five matches in the group stages. Three of those five losses came in the first half of the meet and they really came out in flying colours towards the fag-end , including picking up a crucial win against Mumbai Indians to keep their play-off hopes alive.
While the Warner-Dhawan show has powered the team, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, and Siddharth Kaul have been up to the task in defending any kind of total.
Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan, too, has been pretty economical while chipping in with vital wickets to emerge as one of the most important members of the squad.
However, it’s the opening pair, the top-two run-scorers of the tournament, that Kolkata Knight Riders should feel most threatened about. If either of the two get going and finds support from Moises Henriques or Yuvraj Singh, KKR could be left with a mountain to climb.
It shouldn’t be an easy task though, as KKR have a decent bowling attack and have shown their ability to chase down totals towards the initial stages of the tournament.
There are lot of (KKR) players who know how to win playoffs. So, we make sure that we focus on us and play with the same mindset we have been playing so far