Change of captaincy did not change the luck for Kolkata Knight Riders as they lost to Mumbai Indians by 8 wickets in the IPL after suffering an 82-run defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore.
West Indies legend Brian Lara, however, believes that the captaincy was never a problem for KKR. Lara highlighted the need to bring Sunil Narine back in the Playing XI, who has been kept in the sidelines ever since his action was reported. If he gets another warning then he can be banned from bowling in the entire tournament.
“Captaincy was a never a problem for KKR. Sunil Narine won them a couple of matches with his bowling while defending a total so he needs to get that (his action) sorted out,” Lara said on Star Sports.
The West Indian legend also stressed on Andre Russell’s performance who has failed to make any sort of impact in this IPL with the bat.
“Andre Russell needs to get runs, anybody can captain a team. I think they have put more pressure on themselves now, the camera is on them, they’ve had a change of captain, something is happening in the camp which is not right. That’s just the worst defeat for KKR that I’ve seen,” Lara added.
A tidy bowling effort by Mumbai Indians ensured that KKR were restricted to 148 for five after an unbeaten 53 by pace spearhead Pat Cummins.
Then, the defending champions rode on a blistering 44-ball 78 by Quinton de Kock, to chase down the target with 3.1 overs to spare.
De Kock, who struck nine fours and three sixes and skipper Rohit Sharma (35 off 36 balls), laid the foundation for the emphatic win with their 94-run first-wicket stand.
De Kock, who struck nine fours and three sixes and skipper Rohit Sharma (35 off 36 balls), laid the foundation for the emphatic win with their 94-run first-wicket stand.
The two openers took the KKR attack to cleansers with de Kock being the more aggressive one. The South African notched up his fifty in just 25 balls, with a maximum over deep-square leg.
It rained boundaries for Mumbai as the two dominated the KKR bowling attack.
Pacer Prasidh Krishna (0/30) faced their brunt, conceding three fours in the third over and de Kock followed that up by hammering Cummins (0/28) for two successive fours, both pull shots, in the next.
De Kock kept playing shots all around the park and was again brutal on Prasidh, whom he hit for two fours and a six, in the seventh over, which fetched Mumbai 16 runs.
KKR tried to pull things back by removing Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav (10) in quick succession, but de Kock continued his onslaught with gusto and took the side home in the company of Hardik Pandya (21 off 11 balls), who played a small cameo.
Source: IPLT20.com