If a team scores 236 runs off 88 balls, you’d think what’s happening. Adding to that, if only four runs came off wide balls and there was no illegal delivery, it seems like poor bowling without any plan or strategy. Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowlers conceded 236 runs in 14.4 overs.
On the other hand, Sunil Narine conceded only 24 runs and took a wicket in four overs. That tells altogether a different story. Were these guys bowling on the same track? Yes they were.
Imagine if he had a bad day and bowled with an economy rate above 12, the target Kolkata set for Punjab Kings, 263 runs would have been chased down just 16 overs, it would have seemed unattainable.
Dushmanta Chameera, who usually bowls well at international level, struggled from get go with his line and length. He had replaced Mitchell Starc in the game who was out due to finger injury.
The confidence was missing in Kolkata’s bowlers. It seemed they believed even 263 runs were not enough for them to defend against Punjab batters. The bowling was aimed at the batsmen’s bodies or the slot, which made hitting easier.
Bad Bowling Results in Easy Capitalisation
Prabhsimran Kaur and Shashank Singh capitalized on such deliveries. Kolkata’s captain, Shreyas Iyer, made a big mistake by not reading the game well. There was no planning or sharp bouncers; it was just hoping for mistakes from the batsmen.
Some cricket experts like Ravi Shastri also criticized the slow approach, implying that when a captain overthinks the pitch, it affects their game strategy. Hence, it’s always said, you don’t plan for the pitch; you plan against the team you’re playing and adjust your approach accordingly.
These stats of bowlers’ economies – Dushmantha Chameera 16, Harshit Rana 15, Ankul Roy 18, Andre Russell 18, and Varun Chakravarthy 15 – don’t indicate aggressive bowling.
Even though the wickets were empty, if any of these bowlers had taken two wickets each, the match could have been closer. It’s a poor bowling performance.
To win the match at halfway stage, Punjab needed 130 runs in 60 balls, and they achieved it in just 52 balls. Also, Sunil Narine’s 12 balls only yielded 10 runs. This means Punjab’s batsmen scored 130 runs in 40 balls, showing dismal bowling performance of Kolkata Knight Riders.
