IPL 2014: 5 problems Kolkata Knight Riders need to address before it's too late

If you are not an alien who accidentally landed on this planet, as your spaceship got wrecked, or a Rahul Gandhi maniac calculating the odds of him being the Prime Minister, you must have been following the Indian Premier League. It’s only the beginning, I agree, but the uncertainty of the rest of the season seems pretty apparent going by the results of the first week of the event itself. If you are on Twitter, you must be aware of quite a few hilarious updates in the past 7 days that have been retweeted by hundreds. As I write about the 5 problems that the Kolkata Knight Riders may face in the next few matches, I cannot help but refer to a handful of such tweets.

#5 Stop being kind to Vinay Kumar

Knight Riders had committed their first mistake at the auction by picking Vinay Kumar. Okay, this guy has steered his state team to a couple of historic triumphs in the domestic tournaments, of late, but this is IPL we are talking about: nothing less than an international platform (at least financially, if not in substance).

That Vinay, with his express pace and lethal accuracy will prove to be an asset (for the opposition, but still…) is as obvious as the colour of the 22 yards matching with Navjot Singh Sidhu’s tie and turban. For once, or twice, or 6 times in 5 minutes, you would experience that irresistible urge of listening to Ravi Shastri than watch this Karnataka speester bowl. And if he sends one way down the leg stump and stares bemused at the umpire for calling it a wide, you may well consider catching up on a Justin Bieber song till the end of that over.

The KKR think-tank must have been made aware of Vinay’s plan of world dominance within the next century. If not that, they may have been too busy handling Shah Rukh’s public relations with Salman Khan. Otherwise it’s pretty unfathomable why Umesh Yadav is warming the benches in a country where Morne Morkel’s bounce seems to be persuading the wicket-keeper to adjust the sightscreen.

If the primary scheme of world domination translates as giving 7.50 rpo for two overs, why not test Veer Pratap Singh as an heir? The plan appears pretty simple: give Vinay a couple of overs – no less, not certainly any more, and let him get thrashed all over the park except on his face.