Cricket News: 3 reasons behind KKR’s improvement in IPL 2021 | Looking at why KKR have improved in the UAE leg of IPL 2021
The league phase of the IPL 2021 is about to end and we are all set to watch some cracking contests in the qualifiers. CSK, RCB and DC have sealed three spots for the qualifiers; there are two teams realistically competing in the race for the all-important fourth spot.
KKR, who lost five games in the first phase in India, have managed to keep their hopes alive by winning four of their six games in the second phase.
KKR have elected to chase five out of the six times they have won the toss in the IPL 2021. This indicates that they prefer to chase the target more than defending a total. Further, they have successfully chased five out of eight times, whereas they have lost four out of five games while defending. So, their success rate increases significantly when they have a target set in front of them.
But was this the case in the first leg? The answer is no. KKR lost three out of four games in which they chased. On the contrary, they have won all four games while chasing in the UAE.
Let’s discuss how they have managed to develop themselves into a great chasing unit.
1. KKR’s improvement bowling in the middle overs
If your primary aim is to chase a target, your bowling unit needs to restrict the opposition to a manageable total. But the KKR bowlers conceded more than 200 runs twice in the three games they lost while chasing in the first leg of IPL 2021. Their bowling was abysmal particularly in the middle overs phase, in which they neither picked wickets nor controlled the flow of runs.
But in the second leg, they have been absolutely magnificent in that phase in all the four games they have won while chasing. The respective numbers are compared in the table below.
Runs conceded | Wickets taken | Average | Strike rate | Economy | BPB | DOT Percentage | |
First leg | 251 | 4 | 62.75 | 40.5 | 9.29 | 5.58 | 25.92 |
Second leg | 173 | 14 | 12.35 | 15.42 | 4.80 | 21.6 | 43.05 |
The data shows some exemplary development in their bowling in the middle overs. These efforts have proved to be instrumental in restricting the opposition to a low total, which is well evident from the fact that only one team (MI) has crossed the 130-run mark against KKR while batting first.
2. Return of ‘the’ Sunil Narine
Varun Chakravarthy has been performing well for KKR for a couple of years now. But the return of Sunil Narine into his original self has boosted their bowling by a huge margin.
Narine has achieved an economy less than 6.5 for the very first time after 2014 in his long IPL career. He has picked 10 wickets so far at an average of 25.70 and a strike rate of 24. More importantly, he has been way more impressive in the second leg as compared to the first one, which can be inferred from the following data.
Wickets | Avg | SR | Economy | |
First leg | 3 | 37.33 | 32 | 7 |
Second leg | 7 | 20.71 | 20.57 | 6.04 |
This kind of performance from the legendary spinner has played a very crucial role in KKR’s renaissance.
3. The arrival of Venkatesh Iyer
The young allrounder from Madhya Pradesh has been sensational for KKR in the second leg of IPL 2021. He has given blistering starts to his side when opening the batting and has been useful with the ball as well. His knocks of 41 against RCB and 53 against MI buried every single hope of these teams and won KKR the game in quick time. Also, his fighting innings of 67 enabled KKR to post a defendable total of 165 against PBKS.
Talking about his bowling, Iyer picked the crucial wickets of Shimron Hetmyer and Axar Patel against DC, which restricted them to 127 and the target was chased successfully by KKR. In the absence of Andre Russell, Iyer has played the role of an all rounder with distinction.
Apart from these factors, Rahul Tripathi is having his best season with the bat and has nailed his role as a number-3 batsman for KKR. In the five innings he has batted in the second leg, Tripathi has scored 169 runs at a healthy average of 42.25 and a splendid strike rate of 150.89. There have been some useful contributions from Nitish Rana as well.
Thus, KKR have developed themselves into a really solid chasing unit and they will be certainly aiming to emerge as the victorious side in their final encounter against Rajasthan Royals on this Thursday. Have your say!
Written by Debashish Sarangi. Follow Debashish on Twitter today