The 12th edition of the Indian Premier League has taken a U-turn as the teams which started with defeats have been placed at the top now whereas the teams which started with the wins have been placed at the bottom of the point table. After having started with four wins, Dinesh Karthik led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have lost their way and lost four consecutive games are now placed fifth on the points table.
Apart from a few batsmen, others have failed miserably in the last few games. They failed to put up a big score twice against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Delhi Capitals (DC). Kolkata’s three out of four wins came when they chased the target but whenever they batted first, they have lost most of the time. Apart from Andre Russell, other strike players like Robin Uthappa and Chris Lynn are not that much consistent in thi season.
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On the other hand, the Kolkata team have Shubman Gill. One of the big hitters and key players of the team. As KKR has strength at the top order. Gill comes to bat at the lower down the order which didn’t allow him to play many balls and that led to fewer opportunities. However, he got the chance to open the inning for Kolkata in one game when Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn both didn’t feature in the playing XI. Gill scored a brilliant 65. Since then, everyone started saying that Shubman Gill should be promoted up in the batting order.
However, KKR captain Dinesh Karthik thinks that it will be unfair to Robin Uthappa and Nitish Rana, as they are used to play up in the order. But, somehow they both have been trying to be consistent this season.
“Shubman Gill is a special player. He did a great job opening the batting. However, he opened because Chris Lynn was suffering from fever in that game. But since Gill performed, as a leader, I can’t be unfair to Robin Uthappa and Nitish Rana. They did very well at the start of the tournament,” Dinesh Karthik was quoted saying by India Today.
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He also mentioned that there is no miscommunication between team management and Shubman Gill. Kolkata will face Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their next game on April 19 at Eden Gardens.
