Eoin Morgan’s men fell to their fifth loss in seven matches after their batsmen again failed to show much intent and only managed to score a below-par 154/6 in the first innings against Delhi Capitals (DC).
Explaining how difficult it would be for KKR to turn things around from here due to the lack of ‘class’ in their batting line-up, Sunil Gavaskar told Star Sports:
None of KKR’s top three batters - Nitish Rana (15 off 12 balls), Shubman Gill (43 off 38 balls) and Rahul Tripathi (19 off 17 balls) - had a strike-rate of over 125 against DC.
By contrast, Delhi opener Prithvi Shaw’s blazing 41-ball 82 showed how to go about things as Rishabh Pant’s men eased to a comfortable 7-wicket win with 21 balls to spare.
Out of all the KKR batsmen, only Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell have managed to find a bit of form. Gavaskar suggested that promoting these three players might be the only option left going forward.
Sunil Narine, at 4 or 5 for KKR is a waste of time, waste of space: Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar also heavily criticized KKR’s strategy of using Sunil Narine in the middle order, calling it a ‘waste of time’.
The left-handed batsman has scores of 4 (vs CSK), 6 (vs RR), 0 (vs PBKS) and 0 (vs DC) in the four innings he’s played so far while coming in at number four or five.
Calling for the need to promote Narine to the opening slot in order to utilize the powerplay better, Gavaskar opined:
KKR currently have 4 points from 7 games and are fifth in the table. Their next challenge will be against Virat Kohli’s in-form RCB at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on May 3rd.
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