IPL 2022: Tough battle awaits the  inconsistent Knights

Tonight the Knights face a tough test against Lucknow Super Giants, one of the best teams in the tournament, writes Ayaz Memon

Kolkata Knight Riders' Umesh Yadav (left) and Tim Southee at a practice session session. (BCCI)

By Ayaz Memon

Published: Sat 7 May 2022, 12:38 AM

The Kolkata Knight Riders revived their campaign with a hard-fought win over the Rajasthan Royals in the previous match. Chasing a modest 152, the former champions stuttered and tottered before overhauling the target with just five balls to spare.

The unheralded Rinku Singh came to his team’s rescue with a robust 42 just when it appeared KKR were losing the plot once again.

It’s been an enigmatic, largely disappointing season for the Knights so far. For a team that have such a strong squad, with all-round depth and several hugely experienced hands, the progress has been terribly erratic.

In the first couple of weeks, the team did extremely well, and at one stage were even heading the points table. Then came a massive slump. Five defeats in a row saw KKR slump to the eighth position on the points table, above Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.

KKR are still languishing at number eight, but the win over Rajasthan came as a timely shot in the arm, suggesting that the worst may be behind them.

Tonight the Knights face a tough test against Lucknow Super Giants, one of the best teams in the tournament.

Both teams are equally talented on paper, but it is how major players have performed that has made the difference to their fortunes.

For LSG, senior pros KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock, Deepak Hooda and Krunal Pandya have been enjoying a very good season. Youngsters like Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, Ravi Bishnoi and Ayush Badoni have been splendid in support, every now and then taking the centre stage themselves.

This has led to a consistently high standard of performance, second perhaps only to the Titans.

On the other hand, KKR’s passage has been defined by the whimsical form of their star players.

Umesh Yadav has been the team’s only outstanding performer.

All told, consistency, or the lack of it, has been the marked difference between the two teams. KKR can ill afford to be flaky any longer.