Batting great Sunil Gavaskar expressed disappointment at Kolkata Knight Riders’ batting display after the 2-time champions were hammered by 7 wickets by Delhi Capitals in Match 22 of IPL 2021 in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Sunil Gavaskar said KKR lack class in their batting order, pointing out that the middle-order woes are hurting them in IPL 2021. The former India captain disagreed with KKR’s tactics to use West Indies all-rounder Sunil Narine at No. 4 and No. 5, saying it’s a “waste of time and space”.
Gavaskar said Kolkata Knight Riders can look at promoting Dinesh Karthik higher-up the order and play Sunil Narine only if he is going to open the batting and “throw his bat around” in the powerplay overs.
Gavaskar’s sharp analysis came after KKR huffed and puffed to 154 for 6 in 20 overs on a good batting pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium against DC. Rishabh Pant’s men rode on a 41-ball 82 from Prithvi Shaw to gun down the target in just 16.3 overs and hand KKR their 5th loss of the season in 7 matches.
“It’s difficult, isn’t it? (Turnaround). To be honest, they don’t have too many classy batsmen. I don’t know how many in the dug-out they can look to and say ‘why don’t you come in and bat?’,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.
“If you have a look at their batting, apart from Shubman Gill, and Morgan himself, there is no class. Apart from Andre Rusell down at 5 or 6 and Dinesh Karthik I would look at promoting Karthik up the order or Rahul Tripathi up the order.
“Sunil Narine, at 4 or 5, is a waste of time, waste of space. It doesn’t make any sense having him there. If you want to have Narine, have him at the top of the order where can throw his bat around, and connect a few.
“KKR’s problem is that they haven’t got anybody in that 3, 4 or 5 who can play an impact innings. That is making a big difference in the side,” he added.
On Thursday, KKR struggled to get off to a good start after opener Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi fell in quick succession. They lost captain Eoin Morgan, who is struggling for consistency for 0.
Narine, who was promoted to bat at No. 5 also went without troubling the scorers. Shubman Gill hit 43 but he took 38 balls to do so following which Dinesh Karthik also failed to convert a start into a big knock. Andre Russell’s fireworks (27-ball 45 not out) helped KKR get past 150.
