KKR reaping early rewards in IPL 2022 for too many match-winners

The apogee of T20 cricket was visible on Wednesday (April 6) night at MCA Stadium when Pat Cummins walked in to bat at No. 7 for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and took Mumbai Indians by storm. Even on his first outing in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, it seemed like he had no obvious weakness against any bowler's type on a tricky pitch where most batters struggled to get going. 

It was only a marriage of beauty and brutality from Cummins that propelled KKR to get the job done with four overs to spare. Of 61 required runs, 35 came from the 16th over, bowled by his countryman Daniel Sams, who might have felt Cummins had a preternatural sense of where the ball would be delivered.

...Once I started sweating, I just said that I am gonna go. I backed my ability and that's what I did tonight."

Andre Russell after his onslaught against Punjab Kings

Such multifarious batting strengths from two individuals gave KKR back-to-back wins out of nowhere, and because of that, they sit at the top of the points table at present, with six points in their bag. And certainly, the recent performances have made them one of the title contenders this year.

So far, the KKR have not relied heavily on certain individuals in terms of batting. Their three specialist batters Shreyas, Ajinkya Rahane, and Rana have made little impact in the ongoing season. Venkatesh, who had a memorable IPL campaign last year, did not seem to be at his fluent best yet. Still, they have been playing aggressively and disorienting the bowlers to get positive results.

Wow again!!! @KKRiders boys!! pic.twitter.com/ctt0ZQ7vVC

— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) April 6, 2022

Oftentimes, not over-reliance on somebody gives a side a blessing in disguise. It helps the players to be in a clear state of mind and react to what comes down.

For the past few editions, KKR’s biggest strength has been their spin-heavy bowling attack. Along with that, the redemption of Umesh, under the assistance of Bharat Arun, has given them a lot of boosts. With nine wickets already at an outstanding economy rate of 5.25, the Indian speedster currently tops the Purple Cap (most-wicket taker) chart. His consistent success in Powerplay overs is instrumental in restricting the opponents to a meagre total. On the other hand, Narine and Chakravarthy – the spin twins  – have been relying on their familiar accuracy, speed changes, and intelligence.

As IPL 2022 is set to turn two weeks old, franchises such as Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Gujarat Titans (GT) have emerged as title contenders in this initial phase, along with KKR. While both RR and GT do boast of having dynamic bowling attacks, KKR, on paper, are not too far behind them.

In all four matches that they played, KKR went with a ‘high-risk’ batting approach, and largely due to that, there were a lot of failures as well. But this brave intent, under Brendon McCullum, is not going to disappear anytime soon, which certainly could yield a rich dividend at the end of the season.