Consistent Knight Riders look to do a double against Lions
ON A ROLL Former champions are looking the best team in IPL 10 and Suresh Raina’s side have a tough job on hand
Given the fickle nature of sport, more so T20, teams are loathe to get ahead of themselves but a good weekend, beginning Friday night when they host Gujarat Lions at Eden, can put Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) within sniffing distance of a playoff berth in IPL 10.
“We are obviously happy with four (wins) out of five. It should really have been five out of five but we messed up against Mumbai Indians. But they are a very dangerous team and I think they will be there during the end stages. We didn’t have a good game against Mumbai but we’ve learnt from that, especially bowling at the death and fielding,” said KKR assistant-coach Simon Katich.
Teams usually make the lastfour accumulating between 14 and 16 points and should they do the double against Gujarat Lions and beat Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday, KKR would be on 12 points at the halfway stage.
“There are no weak teams but it does matter how you fared against your opponents away,” said Knight Yusuf Pathan who, during Thursday’s media interaction, also spoke about ‘going to the finals.’
Gujarat Lions go into their sixth game with one win. But they will need to look no further than KKR who, from a similar situation, became champions in 2014.
“I think we haven’t consistently put our batting, bowling and fielding together in one unit. I thought we played very well against Pune where, after a slow start with the ball, we dragged them back beautifully and had a nice run chase. We are batting reasonably well as a group, the two standouts being Dinesh (Karthik) and (Brendon) McCu- llum,” said Lions’ hard-hitting Australian Aaron Finch.
To that Dinesh Karthik added: “I think our bowling has been a little inexperienced but we do have some good bowlers and all it takes is a couple of guys to stand up in each game. Andrew Tye stood up well against Pune and we did well as a unit. Basil Thampi is promising but he will look even better when the bowlers around him do really well.”
It was against the Lions that KKR announced their intent to blaze away with the bat. After Chris Lynn’s injury, the experiment has been moderately successful but Pathan said as a team they chose to focus on the positives.
Such as those down the order batting really well, said the man whose 39-ball 59 helped KKR avoid Monday blues in New Delhi. Pathan said it was a ‘crime’ that he didn’t stay to finish the game against Delhi Daredevils. “I regret that especially because I have stayed till the end in the past. Hopefully, I won’t do that again,” said Pathan who doesn’t go slam-bang from the first ball anymore.
LIONS GO INTO THEIR SIXTH GAME WITH ONE WIN. BUT THEY WILL NEED TO LOOK NO FURTHER THAN KKR WHO, FROM A SIMILAR SITUATION, BECAME CHAMPIONS IN 2014.
On a quiet day in the middle of an unusually hectic season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) assistant-coach and former Australia opener Simon Katich spoke to HT about what’s right and what’s not with the two-time champions. Excerpts: Our fielding has been pretty average. The guys know that and we’ve spoken about it as a group. It’s not about ability; these guys can field, we showed that against Sunrisers (Hyderabad) when the game was on the line. But we have looked sloppy at times. It just comes down to attitude and, of course, a bit of nervousness... They have certainly put time in practice but they need to replicate that in a game. I think we have switched off at times when we should have been sharper. Andre Russell batting at No. 5 or 6. Losing him meant that we had to find out how we could pick up that sort of a strike rate. No disrespect to the other guys but it is very hard to match Andre’s power at the back end of the innings. And we had to get that power somewhere else. So we chose (Chris) Lynn to do it and do it at the top of the order. One thing that stood out for me was that when he (Yusuf) goes out there and plays with that intent from the word go, he looks a different player. The bowlers sense that and start feeling the pressure. He came out that evening against Delhi (Daredevils) with that intent and was magnificent. But against Mumbai (Indians) he was little indecisive and, as a result, bowlers tied him down. He’s experienced and knows what he has to do. It’s a matter of trusting his game. Last year, he was one of our most consistent batsmen, repeatedly performing under pressure.
T20 is in the mind. It is about putting the bowlers under pressure from the first ball. Last year, our bowlers did a good job and kept setting us targets of 140-odd. But when you are batting first, you need to set a tar- any forms of cricket since then. He is just five wickets away from surpassing Shaun Pollock as the country’s highest wickettaker in Tests.
However, the three-match series can be an excellent platform for Steyn to prove his match-fitness and return to the national team. “The four-day series will give us an opportunity to see how some of the players who are on the fringes of the Test squad perform in England ahead of the four-test series,” Linda Zondi, the convener of selectors, was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo. “We still have time to finalise the Test team so that series can give us some pointers before we finalise the Test squad.” I am probably biased because I watched him score a fantastic hundred at the SCG against an Australia attack that had quality pace and spin. From what I have seen this time, he’s been a I think with Gautam now, it is about enjoying his cricket. He’s No.
THE PROTEAS WILL PLAY A FOURMATCH TEST SERIES AGAINST ENGLAND WHILE THE ‘A’ SQUAD WILL PLAY VS HAMPSHIRE, SUSSEX AND ENGLAND LIONS.