After finishing seventh two seasons in a row, Kolkata Knight Riders have stormed back into title contention with a string of impressive performances in the ongoing IPL 2024. With Shreyas Iyer back as captain after missing last season due to an injury and return of the legendary Gautam Gambhir in the backroom staff, KKR have been in red-hot form becoming the first team to make it to the playoffs this time around.
Of their 12 matches, KKR have won nine to collect 18 points and it’s the first time since IPL 2021 that they have ensured a top-four finish. Former India cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu has credited this turnaround to the presence of Gambhir in the team dug-out claiming that the former captain gets more inspired when the going gets tough.
“I have seen Gautam Gambhir gets inspired when the situation gets tough,” Sidhu said on Star Sports. “He starts advising and that’s how it should be. Anybody can be a pilot when the sea is calm but you only learn when in adverse situations.”
Sidhu then pointed out how KKR have as many as five bowlers in their ranks who have claimed at least 10 wickets so far with a sixth (Vaibhav Arora) sitting on nine scalps.
“KKR is the only team with five bowlers who have taken 10 wickets each and the sixth has taken 9 wickets. Show me a team that has six bowlers who have 60 wickets between them,” Sidhu said.
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One of the prime reasons behind KKR’s dominance thus far is the form of allrounder Sunil Narine who has scored 461 runs at a strike-rate of 182.3 and taken 15 wickets at an economy of 6.63.
“The most valuable player in the tournament is Sunil Narine. Who got (Mitchell) Starc? Everybody was talking about Rs 23 crore (Rs 24.75 crore being splurged on a single player). The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. It is the value addition, boss! Don’t measure him in crores. See what value addition he is bringing,” Sidhu said.
“Look at KKR’s six bowlers, top batters – everybody is in form. There’s one parallel power centre. Everybody will feel they deserve to do that. They have balance, they have a great mentor, they have a superb captain. They have everybody in form. What else do you need? You can’t have everything, where will you keep it?” he added.
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