It was the fifth time in the ongoing IPL that Eoin Morgan & Co. have faltered with the bat. If Andre Russell (45 not out off 27) had not fired towards the end, Knight Riders would have failed to reach even 154/6 in their allotted quota of twenty overs.
Talking about the same on Star Sports show ‘Cricket Connected’, the former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has opined that except Shubman Gill and Eoin Morgan, KKR doesn’t have quality batsmen in the team who can be promoted up the order.
“To be honest, they don’t have too many classy batsmen. I don’t know how many in the dugout they can look to and say, ‘Look… why don’t you come in and bat up the order.’ Because if you have a look at their batting, apart from Shubman Gill and Morgan himself, there is no class,” Gavaskar said.
The cricketer-turned-commentator argued for sending Dinesh Karthik up in the batting order. He further added that Sunil Narine should be asked to open the innings because if he slaps a bowl or two for boundaries, it will give the complacent KKR team a good start.
“There is Andre Russell down at five or six, and Dinesh Karthik… I would look at promoting Karthik up the order, because for simple reasons. There is Rahul Tripathi up. Sunil Narine at 4 or 5 whatever is a waste of space. It doesn’t make any sense having him there. If you want to have Sunil Narine, have him at the top of the order where he can throw his bat around, and maybe if he connects a few, that’s fine. But that has been KKR’s problem,” Gavaskar added.
Expounding the lack of talented batters at number 3, 4 and 5, Gavaskar pointed out that KKR would have to scout their talent for the next season since they don’t have dexterous batsmen in this edition of IPL.
“KKR’s problem is that they haven’t got anybody at three, four, five who can play an impact innings. And if they have somebody who can play an impact innings and may they’ll have to look for that for the next season. This season they might not have that. That would make a big difference will make a big difference to their side.,” Gavaskar concluded.
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