Rusty Knight Riders and their execution tribulations

At the end of four hours and ten minutes, unless the match officials considered the overstatement horrifying, there were plenty of smiles on both camps. The Mumbai Indians recorded their first victory in the 2020 IPL, and their first in the United Arab Emirates, while the Kolkata Knight Riders were probably happy that the test was over. In the past four years, Knight Riders have only won one game against Rohit Sharma’s men and have lost nine. From their point of view, it’s good that they have a match out of the way against a ghost team early in the tournament.

At the end of it all, Dinesh Karthik emphasized that he doesn’t want to be too critical of As Knight Riders pacemakers battled for height, Mumbai pacemakers managed to comfortably reach shoulder height and to the pace of the 49-run loss to Mumbai and justly. It was a strange night for the knight riders. Promising at first and gruesome from there. When Shivam Mavi hit in the second over, to eliminate Quinton from Kock, it seemed like they had solved their power play nightmares. Last season, the lack of wickets in the first six overs was a concern, as they only got 16 wickets in 14 games in the power play.

One of the goals set by Mahela Jayawardene for the Mumbai batting unit was to hit the 180-run mark. Rohit was going to be crucial with batting depth compromised a bit and after an early wicket. As Rohit struggled with nerves, the bowlers at Knight Riders forgot the basics of bowling for the Mumbai captain. At every bowler meeting, the Rohit presentation contains a bold dot to avoid short bowling. Instead, Sandeep Warrier served the Mumbai captain one in the first over. The short and wide delivery was spot on for a wide six third man. Rohit’s next six came only in the fifth. He had moved to 13 of 13 when he stood upright and hit a short delivery over the half-gate fence. Later in that, Pat Cummins got the length wrong yet again and was retired for six more.

Rohit scored six sixes on the night: five of them came against short or rear deliveries and none climbed to the shoulder. “I leaned in to play that pull,” Rohit said after the game. “I’m very confident playing that shot and I’ve practiced a lot. I’m glad it went well today and I’m happy with the performance.”

“To begin with, it was all nerves because we haven’t played much cricket and six months is a long time. I really wanted to make it count today. It was quite difficult because the heat takes a lot out of my body. Towards the end, I just wanted to sit still and hit. We’ve seen it in the few games that a hitter hit to the end and took the game away from the opposition and that’s all he was trying to do.

However, Cummins, Andre Russell and Kuldeep fighting for the execution was quite understandable. Russell had thrown just 13 overs in the Caribbean Premier League on low-speed tracks, while Cummins was allowed out of quarantine only at 4 p.m. on match day. While it wasn’t a lack of game time, it was more of a case of taking more time to acclimate to different conditions.

The difference between the two sides was the execution of their short balls. While Knight Riders pacemakers struggled for height, Mumbai pacemakers managed to comfortably reach shoulder height and pace. Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, James Pattinson and Kieron Pollard pitched just 16 deliveries that were longer in the 15 overs they combined to pitch. Once Boult realized that there was no swing on offer on the first change, the plan changed to keep the length short. Sunil Narine was shaken early by Pattinson and eventually fell to the pacemaker he was trying to pull. Shubman Gill was also caught in midwicket trying to force a short ball from Boult. Knight Riders played 21 point balls in the first six overs, scoring 33 for 2, and ultimately lost the plot.

“I think we had areas to do well at bat and ball. I think it was a pretty rusty day, to be honest. The guys realize where they could have done better,” Karthik said after the game. “I don’t want to be too analytical. It is very unfair to judge Cummins at this point. He just came out of quarantine. At 3.30-4: 00 he got permission to come and play the game. This is not the game we should play judge him at all. He’s a world bowling champion. He’s one of the best out there and I trust him completely. I’m sure he’ll turn out well. ”

However, it was not all doom and gloom for the Knight Riders. If Mavi’s first wicket was positive, the way the bowlers managed to pull things off will also please the group of experts. Mumbai looked ready to go past 200 and eventually had to settle for 195 of 5 with Mavi pocketing two wickets and Russell finishing well against Pollard. “Upfront Mavi was really good. The poor guy got lost last year due to injury and is looking forward to this year’s tournament. He’s training well and that’s a good sign for the team,” Karthik said of his young pacemaker .

While the Knight Riders don’t have much time before their next game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday, things will only get better after the rusty outing. However, what the team will be concerned about is the negative net execution rate of -2,450 and finding ways to correct it.