Batting average and strike rate of KKR batters is a big concern for the team
Kolkata Knight Riders have been struggling with their batting so far in this year’s IPL. At the start of the IPL, statistics came up on the screen, which said that KKR has hit the maximum numbers of sixes since 2018. It was an evidence of how attacking their batting was in both the 2018 and 2019 season, mostly because of the firepower Andre Russell brought to the team. Even, Sunil Narine used to smash sixes when he was sent to open. One of the most successful openers for KKR, Chris Lynn was let go in the auction last year, who used long handle to good effect.
The Brendon McCullum school approach seems not to be effective as KKR is the only team which doesn’t have a 50-run stand for the first wicket. KKR is also that team which has scored fewer runs than they have given in powerplay and death overs. There are only two KKR players in the list of top 15 run-scorers so far and no one in the top 10. But the strike rate of both these players is a big concern for the team, especially Gill’s. While Gill has scored runs at a strike rate of just 111.83, Morgan is going at 125.79.
Strike Rate and average a big concern for KKR
No one in the team has a better strike rate than Pat Cummins, who is a bowling allrounder. Pat Cummins’s strike rate is 136.84 followed by Nitish Rana – 133.33, Andre Russell 131.42, Rahul Tripathi -130.23, Dinesh Karthik – 126.08. 6 batsmen in the Mumbai Indians team have a strike rate of over 140.5, 5 batsmen in Delhi Capitals, 4 in Rajasthan Royals, and 3 in Chennai Super Kings.
None of the players in KKR has a batting average in excess of 40. Only Morgan and Gill are in the 30 to 40 bracket with 39.71 and 34.66 respectively. The former captain of the team, Dinesh Karthik has an average of just 16, Rana has 18.40, Russell has 11.50, Tripathi has 24, and Cummins has 26. So far only 6 fifties have been scored by the KKR batsman. KL Rahul has alone hit 5 half-centuries.
Read more: Why it has been a difficult journey for MS Dhoni with the bat this IPL?
What has gone wrong with KKR this season?
Kolkata Knight Riders have always relied upon Andre Russell for quick reasons, but the big Jamaican’s highest score this season in just 24. Last year too, KKR had a problem with their batting but Andre Russell had rescued them on several occasion so, the vulnerability in batting was not exposed. But this year, Andre has completely failed with the bat, which has cut open the wound of KKR batting line-up.
Earlier Sunil Narine used to open for them, this helped them bat little deep, but this year Narine too didn’t click in the initial encounters, which forced him to bat in the lower order. He used to give cracking starts to the team but this year, both the openers Rahul Tripathi and Shubhman Gill haven’t been able to give a good start. This has put middle-order in pressure, so much that whenever Morgan came to bat, he had to save wicket for the team. The approach of KKR batters have been very defensive so far, no one has really shown the intent to attack the opposition.
There could be a discussion if KKR has the worst batting line-up this season, looking at the dull performance of Chennai Super Kings batters. There is only one match in 10 matches when KKR batting had dominated (against SRH). All the matches that they have won (mostly close encounter, has come because of their bowling. They won one game in super over, second by 2 runs against KXIP, another by 10 runs against CSK.
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