IPL 2022 REVIEW
Follow Us“It was a volatile season for us, we started great but lost five games in a row. I personally feel we did a lot of chopping and changing, but we had to do that because of the niggles and form.”
Shreyas Iyer perfectly summed up Kolkata Knight Riders’ Indian Premier League 2022 campaign in just two lines. The Knight Riders got quite a few things wrong at the auction table and it took them 11 games to get their combination right. They started the season on a solid note, winning three of their first four games, but then lost six of their next seven and left themselves with a lot to do in the remaining three encounters.
Kolkata defeated Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad by more than 50 runs to somehow keep themselves alive in the race to the playoffs but lost to Lucknow Super Giants by just two runs on Wednesday (May 18), bringing a fitting end to their erratic campaign. Yes, there were some individual flashes of brilliance but the two-time champions failed to click as a unit for the most part of the tournament. So, let’s try to assess what went wrong with KKR this season.
Threats that came true
Struggle against short deliveries
It was very evident from the start that Kolkata didn’t have batters to negotiate high pace and it bothered them throughout the tournament. Most of them struggled against back-of-length/short deliveries, with two of their most important batters - Shreyas Iyer and Andre Russell - getting out to the short ball ploy four and six times each respectively this season. No other batter got out to back of length/short balls against pace more times than Russell.
The KKR batters were dismissed 31 times in a similar manner - hands down the most for any team in IPL 2022. In fact, nine Kolkata batters got out to back of length/short balls against pace twice or more times this season. Russell, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, and Aaron Finch all had a strike rate of less than 130 on deliveries bowled at more than 140 KMPH. As a result, the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Umran Malik, Mohsin Khan and Avesh Khan enjoyed bowling against Kolkata.
Unsettled opening combination
The moment Alex Hales withdrew his name from this year’s IPL, it was almost certain that Kolkata would struggle to find the right opening combination. Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Aaron Finch, Baba Indrajith, Sunil Narine, Sam Billings, and Abhijeet Tomar - Kolkata tried seven different batters and six different combinations, the most by any franchise this season, at the top but none of them worked. As a result, the KKR openers had the worst scoring rate (6.5), average (15), and balls/dismissal (13.8) in the competition. Only V Iyer and Finch managed to touch the 50-run mark, but that too only once.
Players who underperformed
Venkatesh Iyer
The 27-year-old allrounder played a massive role in KKR’s resurgence in the second half of IPL 2021 in the UAE but hardly did anything substantial in this edition. Such was his impact that he straightaway managed to break into the Indian side and was also retained ahead of this year’s IPL. However, V Iyer could only managed 182 runs in 12 innings at an average of 17.67 and a strike rate of 109.7 and was also dropped for a couple of games. Amongst batters who opened at least in 10 innings, the left-hander had the worst average. And, he only bowled four overs throughout the tournament.
Varun Chakravarthy
From one retained player to another, Chakravarthy had his worst IPL season and failed to replicate what he did in his first two editions. The mystery spinner from Tamil Nadu, who operated at an economy of way below 7 and also scalped 35 wickets in the previous two seasons, could only manage six wickets in 11 innings in this year’s IPL. On top of that, the 30-year-old also leaked runs at an economy of 8.51. Amongst spinners who bowled at least 30 overs in IPL 2022, Chakravarthy had the worst average (55.3). Sunil Narine was economical but didn’t pick enough wickets and KKR ended the season with the worst average (45.6) and strike rate (39.4) in the spin department.
Silver linings
The other two retained stars
The two Indian retentions didn’t work but the same can’t be said about Andre Russell and Narine. The two T20 superstars from West Indies, who have served KKR for many years, once again did the job for the franchise. Russell was brilliant both with the bat and ball, smashing 335 runs in 12 innings at an average of 37.22 and a strike rate of 174.47. On top of that, the big man also claimed 17 wickets at a strike rate of 9.9. Meanwhile, Narine only managed nine wickets but his economy of 5.57 was the best amongst bowlers who bowled at least 20 overs in this competition. Kolkata might have to rejig their squad ahead of the next season but they don’t need to worry about their two overseas slots, not yet.
Two unlikely heroes
Most of the Indian players failed to step up but the KKR team management would be delighted with the way Umesh Yadav and Rinku Singh went about their business. Umesh has never been a death bowler and Shreyas Iyer used him perfectly this season, with only three of his 48 overs coming at the death. Only Wanindu Hasaranga and Umran Malik picked up more wickets than Umesh (15 wickets at an economy of 6.7) in the first 15 overs.
Meanwhile, it looked like Rinku would once again end up spending his entire season fielding in the deep but 24-year-old did get to play seven games and slammed 174 runs at a strike rate of 148.71. The left-hander played cameos of 35, 23, 42* and 23* but his best knock came in Kolkata’s last league-stage game where he smoked 40 off 15 deliveries and almost scored the required 55 runs off the last three overs.
Matches they will rue losing
Kolkata lost a couple of close matches that they should have won. Chasing 218 against Rajasthan Royals, KKR were 178/4 at the end of 16 overs but then lost four wickets in Yuzvendra Chahal’s over and handed the game to Sanju Samson and Co. Then, there was a game against Gujarat Titans in which they failed to chase down 157. Russell (25-ball 48) tried his best but got no support and Kolkata ended up falling short by eight runs.
(All stats till May 18, 2022)
