IPL 2020: Morgan’s Knights have a battle on their hands

For KKR to win, the top order has to click, Pat Cummins has to take wickets

The change in captaincy hasn’t helped the Kolkata Knight Riders too much. In three matches Eoin Morgan has led the team as yet, KKR have won one in a Super Over, and lost two.

In fact, in the second of these defeats, against the Royal Challengers Bangalore a few days back, Kolkata Knight Riders were outplayed and embarrassed. In 20 overs, they could muster a paltry 84-8, the worst batting performance this season.

Having won a thrilling Super Over contest against the Sunrisers Hyderabad before this, such capitulation was quite shocking to see. This time, the top order batsmen failed so miserably that helpless Morgan, who batted virtually till the end, could only look on in dismay.

What this shows is that despite having excellent credentials – as Morgan undoubtedly has – a captain is only as good as his team makes him out to be.

Though the Delhi Capitals have also lost their previous game, for Kolkata Knight Riders to get the better of them will require supreme effort. Shikhar Dhawan has back-to-back centuries, which makes DC’s batting heftier despite the failures of Prithvi Shaw.

Moreover, Anrich Nortje, who was rested in the previous match, will be back. Nortje forms a deadly combination with Kagiso Rabada, and in Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel, DC also have perhaps the best spin pair in the tournament to make for a formidable bowling attack.

All this adds up to several more problems for Morgan apart from those within his own team in batting, bowling and fielding.

For KKR to win, the top order has to click, Pat Cummins has to take wickets, and West Indies stalwarts Andre Russell and Sunil Narine – of whom one should play this game – must show match-winning all round ability of old.

This will require regimentation of resources and instilling self-belief in the players by Morgan, otherwise KKR’s woes might only grow.

• IPL 2024