Five matches, no victories and only a solitary point from a wash-out leave Kolkata Knight Riders searching for solutions rather than soothing words. Tuesday’s 38-run defeat to Chennai Super Kings exposed the same old pattern: an uncertain batting order, a thin pace attack and spinners offering little control.
“Some of their tactics were very questionable,” Aaron Finch said on the TimeOut show moments after the chase fizzled out. The former Australia captain backed the decision to promote Sunil Narine – “At least they tried it” – but felt almost everything that followed lacked clarity.
The chase, set at 193, began brightly enough with Narine’s 24 from 17, yet once he departed Finn Allen (1) and the pairing of Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi slipped into neutral. Their stand was worth 50 from 31 deliveries but, as Finch put it, “They don’t take the bowling on. They don’t get to a point where the opposition captain has to make some serious decisions.”
Cameron Green’s role remains the biggest talking point. The INR 25.20-crore signing has already batted in four different positions this season and on Tuesday found himself at No.6, a slot he has filled only nine times in 68 career T20 innings. “You never pick a team on price tag,” Finch reminded viewers, suggesting Tim Seifert be considered in Green’s place if the balance still looks wrong.
Finch added: “When you’ve got as much experience in that dugout, you think that they’d be at least making the right calls at the right time.” The point was less about individuals and more about muddled planning. Green’s returns – 18, 2, 4, 32* and 0 – reflect a player shuffled rather than settled.
Tim Southee, standing in as bowling coach, defended the Narine experiment while acknowledging changes will keep coming until a win arrives. “I think, obviously when you’re losing, you can look at a number of different options. And yeah, I guess that’s the beauty of the IPL, to test the depth of your squad,” he told reporters.
Narine’s track record supports the gamble: 488 runs at a strike-rate of 180.74 during KKR’s 2024 title run. But with Allen struggling – returns of 37, 28, 6, 9 and 1 – the rest of the top order has offered little momentum. Seifert and Rachin Ravindra remain on the bench; neither is regarded as a power-hitter of the Andre Russell mould, yet Seifert’s uncomplicated hitting could free up roles elsewhere.
Bowling problems persist too. With inexperienced quicks filling in and Varun Chakravarthy short on form, captain Shreyas Iyer has limited tools. That places extra pressure on the batting to mask deficiencies, but tinkering without conviction has only deepened uncertainty.
Finch believes consistency, not wholesale change, is the way out. “Certainly wasn’t pretty,” he concluded, “but there’s still talent in that dressing-room. Get the roles right, back them for a few games and the wins tend to follow.”
KKR have two days before meeting Rajasthan Royals at Eden Gardens. Another defeat would push them perilously close to needing a near-perfect second half to stay alive. Small margins decide long tournaments; for now, the Knight Riders must pick combinations for the job at hand, not the price on the tag.
