Kolkata Knight Riders: Why KKR need a Drastic Change Immediately to win IPL 2024?

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Kolkata Knight Riders came into the Punjab Kings match with massive optimism of getting two points.

A packed Eden Gardens cheering for the Knights against a depleted Punjab side languishing so near the bottom oozed positive feelings among the KKR faithful. But what we saw on Friday was an anticlimax of the highest order.

KKR piled a gigantic score of 261 runs on the board. Sunil Narine and Phil Salt continued their merry ride and at the halfway stage, it was looking like a win was only academic. But then Kolkata witnessed a horror show, a display of utter destruction from the Kings of Punjab, who decimated the hapless KKR bowlers and chased down a record total in T20 cricket's history.

Jonny Bairstow scored a century after Prabhsimran's early destruction, and then Shashank Singh rose like a gladiator yet again. A total of 24 sixes were hit by the Punjab batters who reached the huge target with more than an over to spare.

If we take a look at the table right now, the system doesn't say much. At the moment, KKR remain seated 2nd with 10 points in eight matches. Punjab, despite the win, are still far away from playoffs as they are currently placed 7th with 6 points in nine matches. But the effect of KKR's defeat on Friday is far and beyond the superficial points table.

KKR - A Mess in Bowling

KKR's bowling was always their proud ornament. The Gautam Gambhir era witnessed spin supremacy with Sunil Narine being the focal point of a stranglehold which tormented many oppositions. But the old guard has eroded and only the old captain Sunil Narine remains with weak soldiers alongside him.

The bowling of KKR has been abysmal this season. The multimillionaire Mitchell Starc has been underwhelming, and the likes of Varun Chakravarthy and others have shown glaring inconsistency. It was visible again as Punjab tore apart the bowlers, and they had no retaliation.

In the last three home games, KKR have conceded 76, 74 and 93 runs in the powerplays. Apart from Sunil Narine, all the other bowlers have taken a spanking and haven't changed their strategy despite being serially expensive. The Impact Player rule and the batting mindset play a part, but the major share of the blame must go to the lacklustre KKR bowlers and their clueless executions.

Sunil Narine - The Only KKR Bright Spark

Sunil Narine seems to be KKR's only beam of hope, whether bat or ball. The veteran is scoring runs and picking wickets, but there is no one to support him in the bowling.

Dissecting a simple piece of stat would be helpful. Against Punjab Kings, Narine conceded 24 runs off his 4 overs and picked up a wicket. He also inflicted a run-out with a direct throw and scored 71 runs off just 32 balls with the bat. Although the batting was excellent from other KKR players, the other bowlers conceded 236 runs in 14.4 overs, with an average economy of 16.09!

It has become a clear strategy from the teams to fend off Sunil Narine and then go berserk against the other bowlers. And so far the plan is working. Jos Buttler won Rajasthan a superb match with the same ploy. RCB almost snatched another excellent victory but just fell short. But Punjab Kings overshadowed all and exposed the weak endoskeleton of the KKR bowling unit.

The Alarming Defence

Kolkata Knight Riders have scored 222, 223 and 261 in their last three matches, and they have lost two of those matches, with their solitary victory coming against RCB by a solitary run.

Although IPL this season has reached a certain zenith in terms of batting prowess, these stats are still very alarming. Despite scoring more than 11 runs per over on these occasions, the sorry state of Kolkata bowling has hindered their progress, which can come to bite them at the latter stages.

No team has ever won a championship with weak bowling. KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir, head coach Chandrakant Pandit and other staff will have to figure out the antidote to this virus soon to robust their title hopes. If they keep on leaking runs like this, chances are very bleak.

The way the bowlers have conceded runs in the last three matches is a huge concern. A drastic change has to come soon, otherwise, KKR's trophyless run will stretch a decade.