Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders will be desperate for their spinners to rediscover the bite against Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL match involving two batting-heavy sides here on Thursday.
This fixture also marks the start of a crucial home stretch for the three-time champions, who will play three matches in seven days and another on April 19 before the Kolkata leg pauses for nearly a month due to the upcoming assembly polls.
With four away games to follow and their next home fixture scheduled only on May 16, KKR know it is imperative to build momentum in this phase.
Historically, Eden Gardens has been a stronghold of KKR, winning 54 out of 95 matches since 2008.
However, KKR’s start has already hit a few early bumps as expectedly with their thin bowling resources.
They seemed to have assembled a well-rounded pace attack but injuries and availability issues had blunted their firepower. Harshit Rana and Akash Deep are ruled out, Matheesha Pathirana is yet to get an NOC from Sri Lanka Cricket, and Cameron Green -- their Rs 25.20 crore overseas acquisition -- is currently available only as a batter.
That lack of depth was brutally exposed in their opener against Mumbai Indians, where they failed to defend 220.
Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton put on a 148-run opening stand in just 72 balls, underlining KKR’s lack of penetration with the new ball.
But the bigger worry will be the struggle of spinners -- Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. Chakravarthy went wicketless and conceded 48 runs, continuing his profligate ways since the latter part of the T20 World Cup, while Narine bowled just three overs.
Green or Powell?
Green, who made 18 off 10 balls, did not bowl because of his workload management instructions given by Cricket Australia.
With Green not being used as a bowler, it remains to be seen if KKR are tempted to bring in Rovman Powell, given the West Indian’s proven T20 credentials. Powell scored 149 runs in the T20 World Cup at a strike rate of 147.52 and also has fond memories of Eden Gardenshaving smashed an unbeaten 34 off 19 balls in a Super Eight game against India. Ngidi was in top form in the T20 World Cup, foxing the batters with his deceptive change of pace. Left-arm pacer T Natarajan is fully fit after spending last year on the sideline.