Kolkata Knight Riders won the match against Chennai Super Kings in the IPL2022 first match. KKR won by 6 wickets against the defending champions. They restricted the opposition to just 131 runs and chased that score with 9 balls to spare.
Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and chose to bowl first. Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, and Sam Billings are playing for the KKR team for the first time.
KKR Bowling:
KKR has a good power play. They restricted Chennai Super Kings to just 35 runs with the loss of two wickets.
Takeaways from the Power Play bowling:
They have good bowling options in the powerplay. Umesh Yadav is a wicket-taker in the powerplay. In the first match, he took 2 wickets. They fielded just 3 overseas players.
If Pat Cummins isn’t available for a few matches after his arrival, their powerplay bowling will become more dangerous. Umesh Yadav, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, and Pat Cummins are all bowlers can in the powerplay.
Takeaways from the Middle overs:
KKR conceded 38 runs between 7 and 15 overs. They have 2 mystery spinners. It will be tough for opponents to hit them. Russell bowled in the middle overs and took one wicket.
He played as the 5th bowler, but usually, he plays as the 6th bowler. The middle overs period is crucial for KKR, so they can take wickets and restrict opponent batsmen.
They need an all-rounder as their 6th bowler 1-2 good overs from him would help them. So, they can cover the overs of any bowler who goes for runs. Venkatesh Iyer can play that role.
It will be interesting to see if the team gives some overs to him or not.
Anukul Roy is another possibility as an all-rounder with exceptional fielding ability. He will serve as the team backup.
Takeaways from the Death Overs:
KKR’s weak spot is death bowling. In this lineup, there are no death bowling specialists. In the 16th over, Umesh Yadav gave up 8 runs. Just 3 runs came from Narine in the 17th over. Narine is good enough to bowl in death overs. KKR conceded 47 runs in the last 3 overs.
They are missing a death bowler who can bowl in the last 3 overs. Shivam Mavi conceded 15 runs in the 19th over, He isn’t a death overs specialist. 32 runs came from Russell in his last 2 overs and only 6 runs from his first 2 overs.
He was expensive in death overs in the last two seasons, but he nailed yorkers and took wickets. They are hoping Pat Cummins will strengthen their bowling in powerplay and death.
Conclusion:
KKR has concerns about death bowling. If they improve their death bowling, their bowling will be one of the strongest in the tournament.
They have enough options if Umesh Yadav or any other bowler has a bad day in the powerplay. They don’t have options for death overs. I hope they will improve their death bowling.
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