IPL 2023, KKR vs PBKS: Focus on Sunil Narine's place in XI as Kolkata faces off Punjab at home
IPL 2023: Kolkata Knight Riders plays host to Punjab Kings on Monday. Sunil Narine's place in the playing XI will be scrutinised, having underperformed lately across departments.
FollowA 'Go To' man in former two-time champion Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for more than a decade, mystery spinner Sunil Narine will have to play out of his skin to justify his place in the playing eleven when his team faces Punjab Kings (PBKS) in a must-win 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) game at the iconic Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata on Monday.
The Trinidad man, who has played 158 games spread across 12 seasons, including the current one, has 159 wickets and 1,039 runs with four half-centuries after he worked on his batting once his action was deemed suspect and he lost fizz of the pitch. Narine hasn't been the same "mystery bowler" who burst into the Twenty20 (T20) franchise scene for many seasons, but he would be the first to admit he has been insanely lucky.
The architect of 2012 and 2014 IPL wins with 24 and 21 wickets in those two seasons has struggled for at least two of his last three seasons. Still, KKR management (the principal decision-makers CEO Venky Mysore and assistant coach Abhishek Nayar) has stuck with him. However, with KKR staring at another round-robin exit with only four wins in 10 games, there is no room for error in the next four games.
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The question is whether KKR can still afford to play the man with only seven scalps from 10 games with an economy rate of 8.76 and an aggregate of 14 runs from 8 batting innings with a strike rate of less than 80. While KKR needs to take some tough selection calls, PBKS is also in a spot of bother, and the match is equally essential.
Having been out-batted by former record five-time champion Mumbai Indians (MI) in its last outing, the Shikhar Dhawan-led side may be ahead of the eighth-placed KKR with a two-point lead, but both the teams are staring at elimination. More so in the case of the Nitish Rana-captained home side, which faces a do-or-die situation in its last four matches this season.
Its think-tank, led by an astute domestic tactician in Chandrakant Pandit, also must think beyond their two Caribbean stars -- Narine and Andre Russell. The other day during an interaction with the media team, CEO and managing director Mysore had reiterated: "Russell is the best T20 all-rounder. Narine, I don't have to say much about him..."
With Narine being a regular, one overseas quota is blocked as KKR needs to include the options of pace gun Lockie Ferguson and David Wiese, a genuine seam-bowling all-rounder who also can make good cameos with the bat. That Varun Chakravarthy has become their premier spinner -- 14 wickets at 20.14 -- makes it a stronger case that KKR must think beyond Narine, if not Russell.
A leg-spinner, who bowls at 90-95kph, Chakravarthy has spearheaded the spin attack brilliantly. He showed the way when Rana gave him the task of defending nine runs in the last over as KKR snatched a thrilling five-run win against former champion SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH). As for Russell, KKR must think of a way to promote him up the order, as he has had limited opportunities to showcase his batting exploits.
The Jamaican big-hitter has 166 runs and batted at a strike rate of 148-plus. However, Russell has made an impact as a bowler, giving the team vital breakthroughs in the middle overs -- seven wickets at 20.14. With three home matches left and a tough away tie to former four-time champion Chennai Super Kings (CSK), KKR must exploit the conditions at Eden Gardens to keep their chances alive.
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It was a perfect team effort for KKR against SRH in its last match. The onus would be on the KKR batters to put together an excellent show against a bowling unit with low confidence after MI's onslaught in its last match. Boasting a good bowling attack with Nathan Ellis, Sam Curran, and Arshdeep Singh, PBKS failed to defend 214/3 as MI cantered home with seven balls to spare.
Ellis gave away 2/34 with just four dot balls, while Arshdeep went for 1/66 from his 3.5 overs with four dot balls. Curran (0/41) leaked the most runs, as KKR must find a similar approach against the trio. As for batting, Liam Livingstone, Shikhar Dhawan and the latest keeper-batter sensation Jitesh Sharma have been their backbone, as the KKR bowling attack would look to restrict the trio.
Squads
KKR: Nitish Rana (c), Jason Roy, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, N. Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Mandeep Singh and Aarya Desai.
PBKS: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Shahrukh Khan, Matthew Short, Prabhsimran Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Gurnoor Singh Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Baltej Singh, Nathan Ellis, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Mohit Rathee and Shivam Singh.
Match details
Date and day: May 8, 2023 (Monday)
Venue: Eden Gardens Stadium, Kolkata
Time: 7.30 PM (IST)
Where to watch (TV): Star Sports 1 and other Star Sports regional language channels - Also available in HD
Where to watch (Online): JioCinema
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