How to beat KKR, SRH, RR and RCB in playoffs?

Kolkata Knight Riders

How to beat KKR is one of the most underrated questions of this IPL season. Batting at a strike rate of 177.1, they are the fastest-scoring side of the tournament and have the batting depth to exploit that. Their spinners are choking the opposition in the middle overs and conditions in Ahmedabad should enable them further. They have great bowling numbers at the death too. Vindicating their top spot on the points table, they are the most complete side of the tournament. 

But one can try. There is an opening at the top of their batting order. Phil Salt, matching neck-to-neck with Sunil Narine’s miraculous batting returns, has returned home. Rahmanullah Gurbaz, expected to replace Salt, will begin his season in the playoff stage. Salt hammered pace in the season, while Gurbaz averages only 20 facing pace in T20s since 2022.

What if Sunrisers Hyderabad can get Narine too? That could be the start of something. KKR bat deep but have also been spoiled by the consistent run of Narine and Salt. That situation might just throw the cat among the pigeons. Twice, Narine has been out to yorkers, which should be the go-to method against the left-handed batter.

KKR lag behind in only one bowling metric — pace-bowling economy where they take the ninth spot in the league stage leaking runs at 10.8 runs per over. Only Mitchell Starc (11.4) and Andre Russell (10.3) have been more expensive than the mean economy for pacers this season (10.01). Russell has compensated for it with 15 wickets at 17.4 runs apiece. Meanwhile, Starc averages 33 runs per wicket for his 12 scalps. Clearly, he is the weak link that needs to be attacked. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Plans against SRH should be simple: dismiss their openers early and ambush their bowling. 

Getting the openers out early, and strictly both openers, is imperative to stay in the game against Hyderabad. Thanks to the power-striking of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, SRH are flying high in powerplay batting numbers, averaging 55.6 for the opening wicket at a breath-taking strike rate of 210.8. 

When both strike together, they race SRH so far ahead that the bowling side can only play catch-up until the last over of the innings. Hence, it is vital to get both of them out. In Match 69, Arshdeep Singh showed the perfect ball to nail Head. The left-hander leaves a large gap between his bat and the front pad while defending on the front foot. Arshdeep swung one past Head’s inside edge to hit the off stump. 

It is a tough delivery to execute but the conditions in Ahmedabad lend KKR a chance. The venue has the second-lowest batting average in the powerplay this season (29.3). The conditions here have offered more purchase for genuine swing bowlers than many other venues this season. 

Thus, someone from the KKR camp must whisper into Starc’s ears that he is bowling to Rory Burns and they have a chance to dismiss Head early. Meanwhile, Abhishek Sharma can be targetted with short deliveries, the length that has fetched him five times. 

SRH’s bowling is their weaker suit. They have the worst bowling average (36.1) and economy (10.2) this season. Their spin resources are non-existent. In the pace department, only three of their pacers — T Natarajan, Pat Cummins, Bhuvneshwar Kumar — have economies lower than the mean economy of pacers (10.01). And only Natarajan’s bowling average is better than the mean bowling average of pacers (29.4). 

Even if these three pacers have a good day together, KKR batters can bash their fourth and fifth bowling options, which have leaked runs at 10.2 runs per over. Kolkata’s deep batting line-up can be tough to contain for the SRH bowlers in Qualifier 1. 

Rajasthan Royals

RR head into the playoffs with four consecutive defeats. Of course, they seem to be the most beatable among the four playoff teams, with a number of visible cracks in their line-up. 

Rajasthan’s batting is heavily reliant on Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag. Both have scored over 500 runs this season but above them, the RR openers have averaged only 25.2 for the opening wicket, the third lowest this season. Their strike rate of 132.8 is the second lowest. Below Samson and Parag at three and four, respectively, they have the lowest average for five, six, and seven batters this season — only 18.3 runs per wicket. 

Moreover, Jos Buttler, their third-highest run-scorer of the season, has gone back home. Yashasvi Jaiswal, averaging only 29, has been inconsistent. Since his 104* against MI, he has managed only 121 runs in seven innings. Pacers have dismissed him five times with the short ball. 

If Shimron Hetmyer doesn’t return (last played four games ago), then RR will remain susceptible in the lower middle-order as well. Hence, it is essential to strike the iron at the RR openers and create pressure on Samson and Parag. Both the batters have not been dismissed by the spinners this season. 

With the ball, Rajasthan’s fortunes have dipped with Yuzvendral Chahal’s form. RR’s premier leg-spinner had figures of 22-0-163-11 in the first six games. In the following six seven matches, he has picked only six wickets for 306 runs in 28 overs. Given that his spin partner, Ravichandran Ashwin, hasn’t been a wicket-taker this season (only seven wickets in 12 matches), subverting Chahal again will completely negate RR’s spin attack. 

Moreover, Chahal’s tactic of bowling wide outside the off stump has been found out in this forgettable season for the spinners. His economy in that zone has risen from 10.8 in the first half of the season to 14.5 in the previous seven matches. RCB’s six-hitting capabilities facing spin line them up nicely against RR's frailty in spin bowling.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

It took them time but RCB found their winning combination in the second half of the league stage. With the bat, they have found perfect entry points for their batters. Rajat Patidar finding his form has made things easier for them given his prowess against both spin and pace. The openers, Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis, have batted deep enough to lay the launchpad for Cameron Green and Dinesh Karthik. Both have batted at a strike rate in excess of 200 in the death overs in RCB’s last three wins. 

Also, both du Plessis and Kohli have elevated their strike rate to 140s against spin which has supported Patidar’s cause in the middle overs. 

In short, one needs to take down RCB’s top three soon enough to disorient their batting order. RCB’s current number four (or five) is Glenn Maxwell who has managed only 52 runs in six innings. 

With the ball, RCB are now carrying seven bowling options, including the Impact Player. All seven bowling options offer them something different and du Plessis plays his cards based on the conditions. Yash Dayal’s variation deliveries can be tough to hit for boundaries on the longer outfields of Ahmedabad and Chennai. 

Therefore, it becomes vital to target the weaker aspects of their bowling. 

After Alzarri Joseph and Reece Topley, Lockie Ferguson has made the spot of the overseas seamer his own. However, his economy rate of 10.9 is still greater than the mean economy for pacers in the league stage (10.01), highlighting him as a potential target for the batters. Similarly, Mohammed Siraj hasn’t been the wicket-taker for RCB, averaging 35.6 (mean average for pacers is 29.4) while leaking runs at 9.3. Hence, he is another bowler against whom the batters should look to dominate. 

Also, Maxwell has bowled at an economy of only 8.1. He is likely to bowl early to Jaiswal in the Eliminator and if the left-hander can take him down, it would handicap RCB. 

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