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Dropping Moeen, Delaying Russell: How KKR And Rahane Got It All Wrong vs LSG

Bhargav Dixit

Harshit Rana in action (Source: AP Photos)Harshit Rana in action (Source: AP Photos)

Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowlers have experienced two extreme ends of a spectrum within a week. As a result, a 138-run difference between runs conceded by them in two successive outings at the Eden Gardens.

Defending a 201-run target against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday, KKR bundled out the visitors for 120 in 16.4 overs. Fielding first against Lucknow Super Giants today, the home team allowed them to put on board 238/3 in 20 overs.

Last week, an instrumental performance didn’t require captain Ajinkya Rahane to utilize the services of all-rounder Moeen Ali, who had picked 4-0-23-2 against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati last month. The team management’s decision to replace Ali with an additional pace-bowling option in Spencer Johnson proved costly against LSG on Tuesday.

Should KKR Have Played Moeen Ali?

Playing his fourth match of the season, Johnson conceded as many as 46 runs within three overs to put his team in a spot of bother. In his 71-match T20 career, this is the first time when the left-arm pacer bowled at an economy rate of more than 15.

While Johnson leaked 30 runs in his two powerplay overs, his third over went for another 16 runs. Therefore, one expects the team management to be pondering over the decision of leaving out Ali.

As a right-arm finger-spinner, the Englishman was more likely to trouble left-handed batters namely Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant and David Miller. For the unversed, Lucknow scored 119/2 in 10 middle overs.

Spinners who generally turn the ball away from him, just like Ali would’ve, feature twice in the list of bowlers who have dismissed Pooran the most in T20s. For Miller, the most times he has got out to a spinner is the one who turns the ball away from him.

Not that Ali would’ve definitely spun a web around Pooran, in particular, but the probability of him doing it would’ve been definitely more than the others.

Ajinkya Rahane’s Questionable Handling Of Andre Russell

It took Super Giants to score at a run rate of 11.33 in the first 15 overs for Rahane to introduce Andre Russell into the attack as a sixth-bowling option.

Even though Russell’s IPL 2025 economy rate of 13.53 is only better than Hyderabad’s Simarjeet Singh’s 14.10, Rahane could’ve benefitted from bringing him into the attack earlier especially in a chaotic situation where there was nothing much left to lose.

Having dismissed Mitchell Marsh on the second ball that he bowled, Russell’s immediate success further questioned Rahane’s tactics as his team conceded its second-highest innings score in IPL history.