IPL 2019, DC vs KKR: Lack of impact from spin brigade handicaps Kolkata Knight Riders' bowling attack

Remember those days when Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) turned their home ground, Eden Gardens, into a fortress with the help of their spinners? On those spin-friendly tracks, they used to unleash Sunil Narine and company in order to tame their opponents. And it used to be a hugely successful winning formula for the ‘Men in Purple’. [caption id=“attachment_6359681” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Perhaps, this is the time for some self-introspection for the individuals, who are expected to spearhead this bowling attack. Sportzpics[/caption] Well, over the years things have changed drastically. These days the Eden track is perhaps the quickest and bounciest in the country. You won’t see those 130-140 scores over there anymore. Instead, teams are now finding it difficult to defend even 180 or 200. Also, new faces have joined the KKR set-up and the team combination and gameplans have changed. However, amid all these transformations, the one thing that has remained constant is KKR’s spin department. The trio – Narine, Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla – continues to be the backbone of their bowling attack. There is no Jasprit Bumrah or a Kagiso Radaba in their pace attack. So, on paper, the spinners are being projected as the premier wicket-takers in this team. In fact, coming into this particular edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), their injury-hit fast bowling unit was considered as the weakest link in their camp. Hence, a lot of experts predicted spin to be the “X” factor for KKR. But the reality is, after three games in this season, the KKR spin-brigade has hardly made any impact. As a result, they have leaked more than 180 runs in all the three games. Twice, the batting department saved the day for them, but on Saturday night at Feroz Shah Kotla, the handicapped situation of this bowling attack was exposed severely. On a track where there were some amount of turn available for the Delhi spinners in the first half of the match, KKR bowling unit was tasked to defend 185. And when Piyush Chawla got rid of a dangerous looking Shikhar Dhawan early during the run-chase, it seemed like the visitors got the advantage. After the end of batting Powerplay, Delhi were 45 for 1. Prithvi Shaw was just getting into his grooves and his partner Shreyas Iyer had just come to the crease. With the field being pushed back, KKR spinner Dinesh Karthik introduced slow bowlers from both ends. He was searching of wickets, so he went to his most likely option – spin. They were missing the services of Narine in this match, which put the onus on Kuldeep to get those breakthroughs in the middle-overs. But the lack of form in the IPL 2019 continued for the left-arm wrist-spinner. In the previous two outings against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab, Kuldeep went wicketless and leaked 50 runs in six overs. He hardly found the right length on those occasions and there were too many freebies on offer. In fact, against Hyderabad, neither he nor the other spinners bowled their full quota. So, coming to Delhi and seeing a dry surface at Kotla, might have provided Kuldeep some hope for a redemption. But when the opportunity arrived, he failed to deliver. He gave away 33 runs in his first two overs, which weakened KKR’s grip on the game. Instead of bowling it slower and getting the ball to grip the surface, Kuleep’s flatter trajectory allowed the likes of Shaw and Iyer to play those expansive shots. Later, when the bowler realised his mistake and bowled it slower, the likes of Rishabh Pant, Colin Ingram and Hanuma Vihari found it difficult to attack him. But it was too little, too late. Despite Kuldeep defending six in the final over and dragging the game into a Super Over, overall, he should be disappointed with his performance, especially on that pitch. His counterparts Sandeep Lamichhane and Amit Mishra clearly out bowled the current Indian spin spearhead. Going further in this competition, this is a serious concern for the KKR think-tank as their other premier spinner Narine is also going through a bad patch. In his last two outings, the Windies spinner had gone for 55 in five overs without taking a single wicket. In fact, it is getting more and more clear that after remodeling his action, Narine is not the same bowler he used to be. Comparatively, leg-spinner Chawla, who is KKR’s third-choice spinner, has done a decent job this year. Often, he is being used inside the Powerplay in order to tempt the batsmen to go for big hits. And under those circumstances, Chawla has provided a few important breakthroughs. In the last IPL season, the KKR spin brigade (which included Nitish Rana’s part-time off-spin as well) collectively accounted for 52 out of the 90 opponent wickets they took. The contributions of slow bowers were one of the major reasons behind their third place finish in the championship. It is still early days in the tournament and someone like Kuldeep is known for being a slow starter in IPL. Nevertheless, in the KKR camp, the dependency on spin is much higher this time, compared to the previous editions as most of their fast bowlers are more or less run savers than wicket takers. Hence, people like Kuldeep and Narine need to complement them by being the wicket-taking options for the captain. And in his pre-season presser, Karthik too highlighted this aspect. “If you want to go ahead and win the tournament, you need a good all round bowling attack be it fast or spin. They got to complement each-other at different phases of the game. It’s important that they do their roles well and the bowling unit as a whole is able to do well for us.” Perhaps, this is the time for some self-introspection for the individuals, who are expected to spearhead this bowling attack. For all the latest news, opinions and analysis from IPL 2019, click here For the full schedule, date, time and venue of all the matches of IPL 12, click here