IPL 2019: Three areas of concern for KKR after their loss against DC
Needless to say, the match between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders was expected to be a neck to neck contest and it turned out to be one. The match swung on both side's favor several times and continued to thrill the fans till the last ball when KKR held their nerves to prevent DC from a certain win and taking the game to the super over.
In the super over Prasidh Krishna of KKR bowled well to restrict DC to just 10 runs but it was Kagiso Rabada of DC who stole the limelight by taming Andre Russell with his accurate yorkers. He clinched the victory for his team and handing KKR their first defeat of the season.
Although the performance of KKR has been too good to give their opponents a tough competition, after this loss, they will have to ponder on some areas which have threatened their chances of winning on several occasions in the last three matches. Here are the 3 areas of concern for KKR which are pulling back their otherwise impressive performances.
#1 The opening problem
The opening pair of Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn is yet to set the stage on fire. While Narine batted in only one match scoring a quickfire 24 runs, Lynn is still struggling to find his purple patch.
The injury of Narine has made the situation further worse, compelling KKR to open with Nitish Rana and Nikhil Naik against KXIP and DC respectively, practically with a new opening combination each time. A good opening stand will ease the pressure off the middle order and allow them to accelerate the scoreboard on time to put up a good competitive total.
#2 Bowlers leaking too many runs
Undoubtedly KKR have some the best spin bowling options but no bowler has been consistently economical in the recent matches. All the three matches were high scoring ones, telling the bowlers' inability to put a check on the batting of the opponents.
The lack of experience in the fast bowling department has affected their death bowling performance and conceding too many runs at the death overs may cost them a match, especially the low scoring ones where small totals to be defended. KKR will surely want their bowlers to tame the opponents' batting order, mainly in death overs.
#3 No fixed backup in case of injury
KKR has a strong playing XI but with no relatively designated backups. Narine's injury made them open with two different openers in each game. This has exposed the lack of designated backups in their reserve.
Also, a makeshift arrangement would mean a shuffle in the batting order which may not be an ideal solution. Fixing the backup players with their slots to make them understand where they are going to be in the playing XI and what will be their role is essential, especially in a long tournament like IPL where there are high chances of changes in the squad.
KKR will have to address these issues fast and come up with solutions before these weak areas start costing them the matches.
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