Mumbai Indians need to rethink their strategy; Narine boost for KKR
Mystery spinner Sunil Narine's return will enable a confident Kolkata Knight Riders to tighten the noose when they take on a shaky Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League encounter in Kolkata, on Wednesday.
The Knights and defending champions Mumbai Indians had mixed fortunes in their respective opening matches.
While KKR clinically decimated Delhi Daredevils by nine wickets, having bowled the opposition out for a sub-100 score, Mumbai Indians were at the receiving end, league debutants Rising Pune Supergiants giving them a sound nine-wicket thrashing.
Narine, who left for the Caribbeans following his father's demise, is back in Kolkata, and with clearance of his bowling action from the International Cricket Council should forge a lethal combination with 45-year-old chinaman exponent Brad Hogg, if both are picked as overseas recruits.
Narine, with 74 IPL scalps from four seasons, was instrumental in Gautam Gambhir leading the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned franchise to titles in 2012 and 2014.
If the jet-lagged bowler is available, it will mean a selection dilemma for Gambhir, as Aussie veteran Hogg (3-19) was the pick of their bowlers while dismissing Delhi Daredevils for 98 in 17.4 overs.
In that case, Gambhir may dump John Hastings, who bowled well against Daredevils.
A look at India's recent series in Australia will indicate that Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma played the big-bodied Aussie well. The other option is to play a batsman less to induct Narine. In that case, Colin Munro may be made to sit out.
That apart, KKR has the perfect winning combination in place even if it would mean heartbreak for Bangaldesh's star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who could not make the eleven despite his fine performance in the World Twenty20, where he took 10 wickets from seven matches.
This will be KKR's last match at the Eden this month, as they will hit the road for six successive away matches with West Bengal in the middle of Assembly polls. As such, Gambhir's men cannot afford to let go the crucial two points at home.
If Mumbai Indians, who won their two IPL titles at the venue in 2013 and 2015, have to bounce back from the defeat against debutants Pune Supergiants in the IPL opener, the onus will be on their batters to decode the spin puzzle of KKR at their happy hunting venue.
Going by their performance in the last match, the batting looks extremely weak.
Skipper Rohit Sharma will have to lead by example up front at the same venue where he had scored an ODI world record 264.
After surprisingly deciding to bat on a strip with seam movement and bounce, Mumbai Indians' star batsmen struggled as they were 68 for 7 in the 16th over, having lost their top four batsmen inside five overs for 30.
It was the feisty Harbhajan who wriggled them out of the hole with an unbeaten 30-ball 45 to prop the total to 121 for 8.
The target, though, proved too little for the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Faf du Plessis and KP Pietersen scripted a nine-wicket win in 14.4 overs.
"Hopefully, we will go back and come back with a positive frame of mind. Never thought the ball would do that much having played a lot of cricket here. They swung it a lot and our shot selection wasn't great. We have good memories in Kolkata. It's just the start of the tournament, no need to panic," Rohit had said.
With their team think-tank boasting the legendary duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting to go with a star studded line-up, captained by Rohit, there's an overflowing of talent in the most-decorated dressing room.
It will be all about channelising it to field the best eleven, something that had come in for much debate following their debacle at home.
Having impressed in India colours, Jasprit Bumrah struggled, conceding 30 runs without a wicket, while Hardik Pandya (nine from 11 balls) too was unimpressive after being promoted to No 3 and gave away the winning runs, leaking 12 off four balls.
West Indies big-hitter Kieron Pollard, returning from an injury that kept him out of the World Twenty20, looked out of sorts in his one off eight balls, and he would need a couple of games to get his eye back.
Mumbai Indians may also have to rethink their bowling strategy at the Eden turner and Karnataka left-arm spinner J Suchith, a big turner of the ball, may seem a better option to go with the seasoned Harbhajan.
Teams (from):
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (c), Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Colin Munro, Suryakumar Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, John Hastings, Brad Hogg, Umesh Yadav, Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan, Morne Morkel, Chris Lynn, Jason Holder, Kuldeep Yadav, Manan Sharma, Ankit Rajput, Rajagopal Sathish, Jaydev Unadkat and Sheldon Jackson.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Lendl Simmons, Hardik Pandya, Jos Buttler, Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard, Shreyas Gopal, Harbhajan Singh, R Vinay Kumar, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jasprit Bumrah, Corey Anderson, Unmukt Chand, Marchant de Lange, Kishore Kamath, Siddhesh Lad, Krunal Pandya, Parthiv Patel, Deepak Punia, Nitish Rana, Jitesh Sharma, Nathu Singh, Tim Southee, Jagadeesha Suchith and Akshay Wakhare.
