Former Indian cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has credited Venkatesh Iyer and Rahul Tripathi for the resurgence of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the ongoing second leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) in the UAE.
Iyer and Tripathi both have been providing attacking starts to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the top of the order in the ongoing IPL 2021, which reduced the franchise’s dependency on the batters like Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, or Eoin Morgan for the big totals on the board.
Notably, KKR won just 2 out of their 7 matches in the first leg of the IPL 2021, but they made a stunning comeback in the second leg in the UAE, where they have won 2 matches in a row out of 3 matches, thanks to Rahul and Iyer’s aggressive and free-flowing batting apart from quality bowling efforts.
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Kolkata lost a closely fought contest against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their last outing in the ongoing IPL 14, but they still managed to grab the fourth spot in the points table.
KKR will now take on Delhi Capitals on Tuesday, September 28, in Sharjah to strengthen their payoffs chances in the IPL 2021.
Manjrekar said on Instagram (presented by Dafa News): “Kolkata, it’s been quite a story in this Indian T20 league. The resurgence of Kolkata in the second half. It's really on the back of two players. One cost them (INR) 20 lakhs, the other (INR) 60 lakhs. I am talking about Venkatesh Iyer and Rahul Tripathi. These guys have set to light the whole platform for Kolkata to the extent that they have not had to rely so much on the likes of Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, or Morgan.”
Hailing KKR bowlers, he said: “Bowling is looking really formidable. Both spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, showing class in the last couple of games. Lockie Ferguson, good death bowler. If Andre Russell is fit, he bowls in the death as well. And they will be hoping that he is fit.”
Manjrekar also feels KKR may look to hand the ball to Varun or Narine at the death after Prasidh Krishna’s expensive bowling against CSK on Sunday (September 26).
He continued, “Maybe Kolkata could look to use Prasidh Krishna in the first 16-17 overs. And if he doesn’t bowl his full quota of four overs, maybe they could not use him at the death and have Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine bowl at the death, because these are bowlers capable of bowling in the death. A lot of power hitters aren’t so good at the death when it comes to hitting the spin.”
He also said DC is the best team in the IPL 14, given their current form and bench strength in the tournament.
The commentator added, “Delhi is a formidable side. As of today or in its current form, it is the best team in this T20 league. When you call a big team, that is a team that doesn’t have any major weaknesses. In the last game, when Stoinis wasn’t fit, they played Lalit Yadav and it didn’t affect their performance. When they miss a player, it doesn’t affect their team drastically.”
However, Manjrekar said DC has the only weakness and that is their dependence on the two finger spinners as he suggested the side to play the wrist-spinner Amit Mishra to avoid the risk.
He signed off by saying, “If at all there is a little weakness, maybe two finger spinners is a gamble. If you get a flat pitch and a power-hitting batting unit in the opposition, that can be a bit of a risk. So maybe Amit Mishra could get some games on occasion, because, every time he has played for Delhi, he has made quite a mark.”
