The T20 Chameleons: A once-in-a-generation bowling attack altering KKR's IPL identity
"Every team has a home advantage except KKR."
It was a matter-of-fact remark from Kolkata Knight Riders' stand-in captain Nitish Rana in IPL 2023. He was speaking after his spinners, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy helped KKR take a rare win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Chepauk with ease despite struggling helplessly in home games at Eden Gardens.
The reverberations of that remark are still felt despite coach Chandrakant Pandit playing it down at the time. Eden's curator Sujan Mukherjee has given multiple interviews across platforms during and before IPL 2024, saying the same thing:
"There is no question of favoring the home team. I said it last year, and I am repeating it: nowhere in the IPL rules is it stated that pitches should favor the home team."
Even though Mukherjee has rejected that IPL franchises have any say in deciding how the home pitch should be, a clear home advantage has always existed for every team in the tournament. So when KKR managed just two wins from seven home games in IPL 2023, Nitish wasn't wrong to be disappointed.
However, in expressing that, he unveiled KKR's underlying identity. For a long time, especially since the later half of Gautam Gambhir's tenure as captain, KKR had Eden as, if not a fortress then at least a decent castle. Killing teams' middle order with spin was their thing and often the only thing. And so they struggled on the road unless some team offered them a homely turning track, like Chepauk.
On Sunday, when Shreyas Iyer's team stomped Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium by 98 runs - the home side's biggest-ever defeat in the IPL - they registered their fourth non-Eden win in IPL 2024.
It was the first time since 2012 that KKR had won four of their first five league games away from home in an IPL season. 2012 was KKR's first title-clinching year. The then Gambhir-led side had taken crucial wins in Bengaluru, Mohali, Cuttack (now-defunct Deccan Chargers' temporary home), Chennai, and Mumbai.
This year, they have won games in Lucknow, Bengaluru, Vizag (Delhi Capitals' temporary home) and Mumbai. Although Bengaluru has always been a hunting ground for the franchise, wins at the Wankhede have been telling because they are the only two for KKR at that venue, and both came despite losing the toss.
Is this KKR's best-ever bowling attack?
Most of the credit for this away success and KKR's overall table-topping season so far has gone to the batting lineup. It's not like they don't deserve it - KKR have smashed the most number of 200-plus scores in IPL 2024.
However, in doing that, there's a risk of ignoring the generational bowling attack that the two-time champions have managed to build. Until IPL 2024, the highest number of KKR players to feature in the top 20 wicket-takers for a season was four in 2012 followed by three each in 2021, 2018, 2017, and 2014.
This year, after the win over LSG, they have five bowlers in the top-20 wicket-takers - Chakaravarthy (16), Narine (14), Harshit Rana (14), Andre Russell (13) and Mitchell Starc (12). The sixth-best bowler, right-arm pacer Vaibhav Arora has nine wickets despite not playing four of the 11 matches in the season.
The role division tells a bigger tale. Vaibhav's seven wickets in powerplay overs are the joint-highest in IPL 2024 with Trent Boult and Khaleel Ahmed. The KKR man's bowling average of 22 in this phase is better than both left-arm pacers.
Similarly, Harshit and Starc have the sixth (15.50) and seventh-best average (15.67) in death overs (a minimum of five overs). Russell has been the fourth-best bowler in middle overs (minimum 10 overs) with an average of 18.
You can't speak enough about Narine and Chakaravarthy. The former is the only bowler to have played every match for his team in IPL 2024 and picked at least a wicket in each. As pitches didn't offer turn early on, Chakaravarthy averaged 35.25 after the first eight matches. Now, with eight wickets in the last three, that number has dropped to 21.88 and he's second in the Purple Cap race.
While Chakaravarthy and Vaibhav are among the best when the ball is turning and swinging respectively, the other four are like chameleons. They have a variety of skills that they selectively use to maintain a base excellence across conditions.
For example, the slower one has been one of the most-talked-about weapons in Harshit's armory and he bowled five of them in 3.1 overs against LSG on Sunday. But in the game before his ban, against Delhi Capitals at Eden, he used it just thrice in four overs, relying more on high pace, with a similarly good impact.
Starc's pace and left-arm angle still trouble batters when he hits the right areas, whether or not there is swing. And recently, he has started to find those areas more consistently. The brilliant economy rate of most KKR bowlers forces the opposition batters to go after Russell in middle-overs and the West Indian has found success and drawn false shots by keeping it simple, tight, and consistent.
It's no surprise that KKR have picked up the most wickets in IPL 2024 - 82 - at the best average - 24.34. Sunday's match was the fourth time they took all 10 wickets in an innings. The next best are LSG with two, followed by six teams with one each. Second-placed Rajasthan Royals (RR) are yet to bowl out an opposition.
They have lost two games at home, one convincingly and the other on the last ball. The Eden pitch hasn't supported their spinners. But no one is talking about that. Because no one needs to. KKR are at the top of the table and one of the best-balanced bowling attacks in their history looks likely to keep it that way.