Eden Gardens is all decked up as Kolkata Knight Riders gear up for their first appearance at home in almost four years.
The scenario, though, would have been ideal for the Knights had they gone into the home game, against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Thursday, with a win under their belt.
Instead, before an expected packed house at the Eden in the presence of their principal owner Shah Rukh Khan for the first time since April 2019 and with Virat Kohli in fine form, the pressure could be much more on the Knight Riders.
Captain Nitish Rana and his teammates can consider themselves unfortunate as rain denied them four overs in their chase against Punjab Kings at Mohali in their opening game on Saturday, which the Knights lost by seven runs (via DLS method). With Shardul Thakur and Sunil Narine both capable of big hits, getting 46 runs off 24 balls wasn’t really impossible.
That said, the Knights paid for poor batting at the top and their bowlers’ profligacy.
Compared to Punjab Kings, RCB have a stronger batting line-up. Moreover, with Kohli getting his rhythm back and captain Faf du Plessis striking the ball brilliantly, RCB have an opening combination that, on its day, can flatten any opposition attack. Mumbai Indians faced it last Sunday at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
Kohli must be eager to produce a special one at the Eden, where he scored his maiden international hundred back in December 2009 in an ODI against Sri Lanka. The strokes flowed from his blade in his extended nets session on Wednesday, which goes on to reflect the touch he’s in at present.
To ensure they aren’t taken apart by Kohli and Du Plessis, the Knights need to get at least one of the two out within the Powerplay. The Eden wicket does provide a bit of help for the quicks, while the Knights are also a tad relieved with the improving condition of Lockie Ferguson, who had been nursing a hamstring injury.
However, the Knights might consider using either of the two spinners — Varun Chakravarthy or Narine — early on. Taking a little bit of pace off the ball might just make the RCB openers err. Particularly Kohli, who hasn’t had a great time against spinners across formats.
The Knights’ batting though remains a concern, especially against an attack comprising Mohammed Siraj, left-armer David Willey (likely to be in for the injured Reece Topley) and the impressive Akash Deep.
Skipper Rana and head coach Chandrakant Pandit need to figure out if they should bring in the promising Narayan Jagadeesan as the opening partner of Afghan keeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz, or continue with Mandeep Singh at the top with Venkatesh Iyer as their Impact Player.
Jason Roy to join KKR
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) — losing out on both Shreyas Iyer and all-rounder Shakib-al Hasan — have roped in England limited-overs opener Jason Roy (at Rs 2.8 crore from his base price of Rs 1.5 crore) which should boost their batting line-up a little bit.
Roy last played in the IPL in 2021 for Sunrisers Hyderabad and also featured in this year’s Pakistan Super League for Quetta Gladiators.
“Roy’s visa clearance just came through, so he will be joining us directly in Ahmedabad (before the game against Gujarat Titans on Sunday),” a KKR team official said.
