3 Tactical changes which Kolkata Knight Riders should make to improve their performance
Kolkata Knight Riders didn't have a great auction this year as the team lost their long-standing captain in Gautam Gambhir to the Delhi Daredevils and had picked a relatively weak batting unit. The news about the injury concerns of Chris Lynn, Andre Russell, and the fact that Mitchell Starc was ruled out of this IPL, all added to their miseries.
The Kolkata team was expected to struggle in the tournament but what has transpired in their first two games has been remarkable for the side. The team, under the captaincy of Dinesh Karthik, has punched above its weight and has shown the world what they are capable of.
The Dinesh Karthik led side won its first match against one of the tournament favourites-Royal Challengers Bangalore and almost went on to defeat the Chennai Super Kings in their own den. The Knights are certainly performing pretty well but have a few weak links in their team, which if looked upon, could work wonders for them.
#3) Altering the batting order depending on the opposition
Sunil Narine opened for the Kolkata Knight Riders in both the matches against Bangalore and Chennai. He was successful against the former while he flopped against the latter and the reason behind it was the difference in the kind of bowlers both the teams had.
Bangalore had Yuzvendra Chahal, a leg-spinner bowling to Sunil Narine, the left-handed batsman, which made things easy for him. In addition, the fact that Washington Sundar wasn't at this best also helped Narine. On the other hand, in the match against Chennai, he had to face a quality off-spinner in Harbhajan Singh.
The conclusion one can draw from the two matches is that Narine is comfortable against pace bowling and leg spinners whereas he is uncomfortable with the ball spinning away from him. It is therefore important for Karthik to change the opening combination depending on the situation.
KKR should open with Narine against teams which lack quality off-spinners like Delhi Daredevils, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rajasthan Royals, and Mumbai Indians, whereas they should open with Robin Uthappa against teams like Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab, who have quality off-spinners.