IPL 2022: Russell is an injury waiting to happen: Simon Doull

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Bengaluru, March 31: Kolkata Knight Riders fell to a three-wicket loss to the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their second IPL game of the season at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday.

After getting their season off to a winning start, defeating Chennai Super Kings in their opener, Shreyas Iyer-led KKR struggled with the bat as they were bowled out for 128. In a hard-fought encounter, Faf du Plessis-led RCB chased down the target with four balls to spare.

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Following the match, KKR have now won one and lost one, while RCB have also lost one and won one match. On a day when batsmen struggled, the bowlers shone for both sides.

But KKR all-rounder Andre Russell's form with the ball might be a cause for concern for the Knight Riders. In the opening match against CSK, Russell was expensive as he turned in figures of 1/38 in his four overs spell and in the second match, Russel went without a wicket and leaked 36 runs in just 2.2 overs.

Speaking to Cricbuzz, former New Zealand bowler Simon Doull opened up on the Knight Riders' bowling line-up. "You'd like to think that you get four overs out of Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell ane even a couple of round arms from Nitish Rana if you had to. Most teams are very similar. Very few teams in this competition have five out-and-out bowlers - one of two who can bat. It is very difficult to find in T20 cricket. So they've got four genuine bowlers, and even Pat Cummins will come back, they still out four very good bowlers," Doull told Cricbuzz.

"Chakravarthy will have more good nights than bad. But if you can't rely on four overs from Russell, Iyer and Rana, there's something wrong. I know everybody is worried as soon as Andre Russell dives but you can't play the game like that. If they're worried about it, don't play him, or don't bowl at all. Just tell Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana that you two are going to be our fifth bowlers.

"You just hope Russell wins you three games with the bat. In this competition, you are asking every player to win 1-2-3 games. So that might be the way forward. He's just struggling with the ball. And his body has such an enormous muscle. He might be truly over 105-108 kilos; just that enourmous mass going through that stress from time to time is not easy. He is an injury waiting to happen, which is a shame because I love watching all of his trades."

KKR will look to bounce back with a win when they take on the Punjab Kings at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday (April 1).