IPL 2022 | Reasons behind KKR’s loss of momentum

The rivalry between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League grabs the fans' attention, irrespective of the situation or the teams' standings in the points table. Such will be the case when the two nemeses take on each other today (9th May 2022) at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai.

While MI is already out of the race to the summit, KKR's chances are still hanging on the cliff's edge. Speaking of KKR, they began their campaign on a high, winning three of their first four matches. But after that, they began to lose their momentum and kept falling behind in the race. Currently, KKR is placed at number nine on the points table, and their chances to make it into the playoffs are getting bleaker day by day.

Let us look at a few reasons why KKR lost their momentum mid-way through the season.

Unstable Opening Pair: The KKR team management stuck with Ajinkya Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer as the opening pair for the first few matches. But their failure meant KKR started chopping and changing. As a result, we have seen as many as six different opening pairs for KKR in 11 matches.

However, nothing seems to work for the Men in Purple. The openers have failed to give them solid starts. In the 11 innings of the tournament, the KKR openers have scored just 144 runs at an RPI of 13.09. This shows that the team has faltered in the beginning as only 13 runs come from the opening pair on average.

Over Dependency on Umesh Yadav: In the initial stages of the tournament, Umesh was breathing fire with the new ball. KKR was flying high on the back of the brilliant spells by the Indian pacer. But as the tournament progressed, batters started to negotiate Umesh better, and the sting began to disappear from Kolkata's bowling. 

The Indian speedster has 15 wickets in 10 matches. But other than him, the other bowlers have not been potent enough. So let us look at the record of the other bowlers in the tournament.

KKR Pace bowlers in IPL 2022

Except for Umesh Yadav, the only other bowler who has been potent enough has been Andre Russell. But his fitness issues keep him from bowling the full quota of overs regularly, and besides, his economy rate has also been a concern for the team. Tim Southee has been another effective bowler, but his efforts haven't been enough to take KKR across the line.

Death Bowling Woes: The lack of a specialist death bowler in the squad was evident before the tournament began. While they were winning, their death bowling was never really tested. But when their Death bowling came under the scanner, KKR began to lose momentum.

KKR has conceded 11.61 runs per over in the death. They are picking up a wicket every 11 balls in the death. The records show that they have not been effective enough in this phase, which is why they are losing crunch matches.

Dependency on Russell: Andre Russell has been an essential cog in KKR's batting efforts. In 11 matches, Russell has scored 272 runs at a strike rate of 183.78 and an average of 38.86.

With the team's top order looking brittle, the responsibility has often fallen on the shoulders of Russell. In most matches, the Men in Purple have been entirely dependent on the West Indian taking them through. However, other batters are not taking enough responsibility, leading to KKR's struggle. Here is the record of other batters barring Russell in the tournament.

KKR Batters in IPL 2022

These are the batter KKR have tried as finishers. However, as is evident from the table, KKR has missed consistency. The inability of the batters to up the ante at the right time has cost them essential matches.

Non-penetrative middle over bowling: While the KKR bowling has been economical in middle overs, they have struggled to pick up wickets. The lack of wickets in the middle phase resulted in them losing their grip on the match. Let us look at the record of the bowlers who have bowled in the middle-overs for the Men in Purple.

KKR bowlers in the middle overs

The table clarifies that barring Shivam Mavi; other bowlers have been economical. But they have failed to pick up wickets in the phase. Even their biggest weapon Sunil Narine has looked benign when it comes to wicket-taking ability. This is one of the main reasons they have lost many vital matches and are struggling to find a place in the top four of the tournament.