GT beat KKR comfortably by 39 runs yesterday at Eden Gardens. GT continues its winning streak, and KKR‘s struggle on its home ground continues. KKR made some strategy blunders, which cost them the match. Let’s look at the reasons for KKR’s defeat
Toss
KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane once again won the toss and chose to bowl first. He said during the toss that he believes they can chase any total given by the opponent. The pitch was a bit dry and a bit two-paced, and GT had a quality bowling attack to defend their total.
Even KKR has two top-quality spinners and a decent fast bowling attack to defend the total. He still backed his batters to chase the target, which backfired in the end.
GT’s Stability at Top
GT openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharshan made a huge partnership of 114 runs for the opening wicket and set the base for the other batters to take on. They didn’t play any ramp shots and showed their class by scoring quick runs with textbook cricket shots. The bowlers waited for the batters to commit a mistake and play a wrong shot.
Spinners choked
KKR’s strength was their spinners. As it was a slow pitch and offered some sort of assistance to the spinners, KKR went with 3 spinners. But, GT batters tackled them brilliantly and didn’t give any wickets to any of them in their 11 overs combined. They played risk-free shots to score boundaries against them. This collapsed the bowling strategies of KKR, and they couldn’t put any pressure on GT batters throughout the innings.
Poor batting strategies
KKR’s batting strategies were not up to the mark. Their openers failed to give a start once again, as Gurbaz was dismissed for 1 run in very first over. The decision to bring Gurbaz in place of Quinton de Kock didn’t yield results. KKR’s star batter Venkatesh Iyer was struggling to score runs in this season as scoring 14 runs in 19 balls doesn’t help the team while chasing a 199-run uphill target.
They have sent Moeen Ali at no.8 and impact player Angkrish Raghuvanshi at no.9. Moeen should have walked in at no.5 or no. 6 when Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer got out. He could have counterattacked the GT spinners. Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, and Ramandeep Singh could have kept to face the fast bowlers in the death overs. Angkrish Raghuvanshi should have been sent to his usual position at no.4 rather than at No.9 position. He could have given good support for Rahane and built a healthy partnership.
KKR’s losing streak at home
KKR has lost 3 out of 4 matches at their home ground this year. Two out of their three losses came while chasing. Last year, KKR didn’t lose a single match while chasing. But one of the reasons behind that was their former captain, Shreyas Iyer. He was unbeaten in all those chases.
It is important for a top-order batter to play a long innings while chasing the target. KKR is missing the services of Shreyas in chases this year. They created an unwanted record of failing to chase 111 runs against PBKS. They need to change their strategies according to the new team they got in the auction, and play according to their strength.