The Kolkata Knight Riders need to play out of their skins to beat Lucknow Super Giants by a huge, huge margin in their final league-phase game of this IPL at the Eden on Saturday. Only then can they hope against hope of somehow sneaking into the playoffs.
The fact is, even if they win big, it might not be good enough for them to advance. Why? Because besides winning the match by a big margin, they also need Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians (both on 14 points each at present) to lose big against Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad, respectively. Besides, chances of rain on Saturday cannot be ruled out altogether, something which would further cripple the Knight Riders’ chances.
To sum it up, it’s taller than a tall task.
Precisely, the Knight Riders themselves are to be blamed for being in such a situation. Their batting, including a shaky top order, has been a concern right through. Barring Rinku Singh and captain Nitish Rana, no other player in the Knights’ batting group has been consistent in the current edition, including Andre Russell — a shadow of his past.
Agreed, the absence of regular skipper Shreyas Iyer was a huge blow to the Knights. But that Shreyas wouldn’t be available due to his lower-back injury was known to the team management even before the season began. The planning and preparation should have been done accordingly.
Over-reliance on their spin trio of Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine and Suyash Sharma didn’t help the Knight Riders either. Besides, by his standards, Narine has had an indifferent season, delivering on very few occasions.
For Saturday, Rana and Co. would obviously be expecting another spin-friendly track. But if there’s rain ahead of the game, conditions at the Eden will change again, which could go on to aid the Super Giants.
The hurdles in front of the Knights are many in the race to the playoffs. It’s a race which probably has been lost much earlier.
Today’s match
■ Kolkata Knight Riders vs Lucknow Super Giants, 7.30pm, Eden Gardens, live on Star Sports & Jio Cinema
