IPL 2019: Three unsold players who could have helped KKR qualify for the playoffs
Kolkata Knight Riders had a poor outing in the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League. KKR entered the tournament as favourites, but couldn't do justice to the weight of expectations on them. They started the tournament with 4 wins in 5 games and had a healthy net run rate.
All they needed was 3-4 victories in the remaining 9 games to qualify for the playoffs.
However, things took a sharp turn for them as they lost their next 6 games. This streak pretty much put an end to their hopes and exposed their weaknesses. They were a one-man team for the majority of their games as they relied heavily on Andre Russell. Their bowling attack for poor and they didn't have any other batsman to support Russell.
On that note, here's a look at three unsold players who could have given KKR the perfect balance to qualify for the knockouts.
#3 Cheteshwar Pujara
Cheteshwar Pujara is a slightly left-field choice considering his status as a Test match batsman. However, he seems to have worked hard on his batting and is a lot more aggressive than he used to be. Last year in the Royal London One Day Cup in England, he had a strike rate of 91. In the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he had a superb strike rate of 131.31, showing that he the ability to be aggressive.
He also scored a century in the Mushtaq Ali tournament and had an average of 86.66. Robin Uthappa wasn't having the best of tournaments, and they didn't have a player of his experience on the bench. So, they had to use Rinku Singh, who struggled with his strike rate. A player of Pujara's quality would have helped them as he could have taken up the role of anchor in the team.
Nitish Rana was off color after the first few games and couldn't do anything of note apart from an 85* against RCB. Even, Dinesh Karthik was out of form for most of the tournament. Pujara could have helped shore up an inconsistent middle-order and would have provided the team with stability.