KKR need to win & lift run rate: Saurav Ganguly
After their loss against Auckland Aces the team from Kolkata is surely in a spot of bother. They are not only in a must-win situation but also need to lift their run-rate. Sometimes the run-rates are a bigger hurdle to cross than the demand of two back-to-back wins.
The KKR batters once again struggled on the Cape Town pitch and that has not come as a surprise to me.
The Newlands, as they call it in South Africa, can be difficult batting at night and history shows that in day-night games teams have struggled batting second.
When you go to these conditions the approach to batting in any form of the game is difficult and KKR batting hasn’t been able to adjust.
What added to their woes is the likes of Kallis and Gambhir not scoring and the reason why I say this is because they are technically more equipped to handle pace and bounce than any of the others in that squad.
Although the same can’t be said strongly about Gambhir I can vouch for Kallis as he has scored tons of runs on these pitches.
Pathan, Shakib were so dangerous when the bounce was low but had no answer to the medium-paced Auckland attack.
For Yusuf these tournaments are important as he has been out of the Indian squad for sometime now and needs lots of runs to get back into contention. His technique has been found wanting and he needs to address that quickly.
KKR move on to Durban to play against Perth Scorchers on another testing strip. Kingsmead will be similar to Centurion and the carry and bounce on that strip will be like the first game.
It will be similar in nature to Perth on which the Scorchers play their cricket and so to the opposition it could just be home territory.
KKR needs to bat differently. Maybe Gautam or Kallis will need to bat the entire 20 overs and accelerate towards the end of the innings.
I am sure Gautam’s poor form is a worry for him and he needs to get out of it very soon.
Gautam can push McCullum to open and get himself to number three, just to get out of that routine of opening. It will bring McCullum to his favourite position as he looks to be in good touch and will also give Gautam a breather.
He will also have to reshuffle his bowling unit. Hopefully, Brett Lee will be back and to be honest, I was surprised not to see him in the first eleven at Cape Town. Also Gautam probably will need to give Pradeep Sangwan the new ball.
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