IPL, KKR season analysis: Rinku a positive in an otherwise sub-par campaign

Kolkata Knight Riders’ run to the final of the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) appears a distant memory now, with the ‘Purple Army’ having now gone two seasons in a row without reaching the playoffs.

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Kolkata had an outside chance of sneaking into the top four when they hosted Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the final game of the season at the Eden Gardens on Saturday.

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Not only would they need a big victory over Lucknow to not only go level with Rajasthan Royals but to eclipse their Net Run Rate, they would also need Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to lose their final games in the Sunday double-header.

The possibility went out of the window after Lucknow Super Giants recovered from a shaky start, riding on a game-changing 58 off 30 to post a challenging 176/8 on the board, meaning Kolkata would have had to chase the 177-run target down inside nine overs to still compete for the playoffs.

Kolkata, at the very least, could’ve signed off with a victory to end their campaign on a positive note. And they did start off on a positive note with the opening pair of Jason Roy and Venkatesh Iyer plundering 59 runs in the first five overs of the chase.

As had been the case with the Knight Riders for a majority of the season, and was indeed one of the major reasons why they will be watching the playoffs from the sidelines instead of being in the thick of things, their batting order failed to capitalise on the promising start and lost their way in the middle overs.

A late cameo from Rinku Singh almost caused an upset, with the KKR pocket rocket remaining unbeaten on 67 off 33 deliveries that helped reduce the margin of defeat to just one run.

So where exactly did things go wrong for the Knight Riders this season. We take a look at the reasons in detail below:

A misfiring batting lineup

The biggest issue with the Kolkata batting order was the fact that they did not have a settled top order throughout the season. From going with Mandeep Singh and Rahmanullah Gurbaz in their tournament opener against Punjab Kings in Mohali to sending Jason Roy and Venkatesh Iyer in their final game of the season against Lucknow Super Giants at the Eden Gardens on Saturday, KKR used eight different opening combinations, with Gurbaz and Roy getting the most games in this role.

What also hurt their cause was some of their star performers such as Andre Russell failing to live up to their expectations. Dre Russ endured one of his leanest runs ever as he could manage just 227 runs at an average of 20.64 and a strike rate of 145.51.

Lack of potent pace options

What also hurt Kolkata’s chances this season was the fact that none of their frontline pacers could cause much damage to opposition teams. Lockie Ferguson, whom they re-acquired ahead of the season after the express pacer represented Gujarat Titans last year, collected just one wicket in his three appearances this season with an economy of 12.52. Fellow Kiwi seamer Tim Southee and veteran Indian quick Umesh Yadav too had insipid runs, the latter collecting just one wicket in eight appearances at an economy of 9.95.

In the end, all-rounder Shardul Thakur turned out to be KKR’s most successful seamer with seven wickets in 11 appearances across the season. Skipper Nitish Rana turned to Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora as his frontline pace options in the second half of the season. Though it’s still early days in the league for the two youngsters, they did show promise with the ball and are likely to get an extended run next season.

Rinku and other positives

The single biggest positive for the Kolkata Knight Riders this season was Rinku Singh, in whom they have unearthed a gem who could be a superstar of the game down the road. The Uttar Pradesh batter has had KKR’s backing for quite some time now, having been part of the setup since 2018. While he had made sporadic appearances in his first three seasons and got seven matches under his belt last year, it was the 16th edition of the league in which Rinku got his breakthrough, playing all 14 matches in the season and collecting 474 runs at a stellar average and strike rate of 59.25 and 149.53 respectively.

What especially stood out in Rinku’s approach at the centre was his never-say-die attitude and his ability to go hammer and tong from the word go. It was that fearless approach that helped him pull a rabbit out of the hat against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad, and nearly produce something similar against Lucknow on Saturday. And such has been his impact that there are talks of fast-tracking him into the Indian team already.

Another positive for the Knight Riders this season was the emergence of leg-spinner Suyash Sharma, who formed a potent spin trio with Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine that turned out to be Kolkata’s trump card in the bowling department this season. Chakravarthy finished the leading wicket-taker for the Knight Riders and is currently the only member of the KKR attack among the top five bowlers, collecting 20 wickets across the season at an average and economy of 21.45 and 8.14 respectively.

Last, but certainly not the least, Rana did more than a commendable job filling in for skipper Shreyas Iyer, who had been ruled out of the entire season due to a back injury. While Iyer will be back as captain next season, the Knight Riders have discovered a decent back-up option in Rana, who could perhaps take up the responsibility on a full time basis down the road, whether at KKR or in some other franchise.

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