Shame old story for Kolkata Knight Riders

The team which was in coma for the last few days finally succumbed to the pressure and died a natural death in Chennai on Tuesday. The heart of the team collapsed inside the first 20 balls and it was just a matter of time for issuance of the death certificate.

Yes, the team’s name is the Shah Rukh Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders who — barring a miracle — are out of contention for a semifinal berth.

For the record, KKR is the only franchisee to have failed to make the last-four stage in the three editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Reasons for the hat-trick of debacles are plenty. One doesn’t have to be an Albert Einstein to deduce most of the reasons.

Over dependence on foreign players and undermining the domestic talent is one of the principal causes, though not the only mistake.

When the Bollywood superstar picked Sourav Ganguly as the captain for the inaugural edition in 2008, it was a popular and logical decision. But things started going haywire after that. Ricky Ponting quickly realised that the IPL wasn’t his cup of tea. He chose national duty over the multi-million dollar league and ahead of the auction this season KKR had no option but to release him. 

Brendon McCullum hasn’t been a runaway success. His blitzkriegs have been too few and far between to have made any sort of difference to the fortunes of the side. Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan and Robin Uthappa are players any side would love to have in their ranks. But KKR decided to stick with Aakash Chopra (first and second edition) and Cheteshwar Pujara, who don’t exactly fit the bill when it comes to Twenty20 cricket.

Now a pertinent question that needs to be answered is what stopped KKR from picking some reputed Indian names instead of big ticket entertainers (read flop stars)?

KKR had one of the best coaching staff available throughout the globe. They had John Buchanan (first two seasons) and Dav Whatmore, two of the most innovative coaches, Wasim Akram, arguably the best left-arm quick the world has seen, besides Sourav Ganguly, rated amongst the best in the world for his leadership skills.

But what they had on-field again didn’t make much sense.

For example, a prolific all-rounder like Laxmi Ratan Shukla was never given a look in till the very end of this season. Also, a youngster like Iqbal Abdulla, who bowled his heart out against Delhi Daredevils and snatched a win, may have been praised by the captain at the post-match media interaction but was dropped from the XI in the very next match against Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Coach Whatmore has admitted that they failed to judge the nature of the wicket, but in a professional set-up, individuals are paid hefty sums for taking those decisions correctly. A coach or a manager is expected to take those decisions (in consultation with others) rather than coaching the players who have played at the highest level.

Faith was reposed in the foreign recruits rather than youngsters waiting in the wings.

Very few know that the likes of Harshad Khadiwale, Chirag Pathak, Varun Aaron, Eklak Ahmid or Ganapathi Vignesh were on the KKR roster for the 2010 edition. The side persisted with McCullum, Ishant Sharma or Ajantha Mendis, who hardly made any contribution.

Overlooking the local youths at the expense of the foreign recruits did hurt the team’s chances in more ways than one. This has resulted in lack of confidence among the local players and dented the team spirit.

In comparison with other outfits, KKR even failed to marshal the talent pool they had at their disposal. Murali Vijay and Ravichandran Ashwin are taking the responsibilities for the Chennai Super Kings, Saurabh Tiwary, Shikhar Dhawan and Ambati Rayudu are doing it for Mumbai Indians, Robin Uthappa and Vinay Kumar are bailing out Royal Challengers, Tirumalasetti Suman and Harmeet Singh for Deccan Chargers, Siddharth Trivedi and Naman Ojha are excelling for Rajasthan Royals.

Last but not the least, the team owner’s tweets after every loss kept the team under pressure and hindered the progression of the much-fancied outfit.