Kolkata desperate to arrest slide against in-form Super Kings

KOLKATA: On a downward spiral, Kolkata Knight Riders would be desperate to press the reset button and snap its three-match losing streak, when it faces Chennai Super Kings in the IPL here on Sunday.

The Nitish Rana-led side, which showed a lot of promise with two wins against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Titans, suddenly seems to have lost the plot. KKR (four points in six matches) now finds itself in eighth spot in the standings, with only Sunrisers Hyderabad (4) and Delhi Capitals (2) below it.

KKR’s losing streak began at home, going down to SRH before it endured successive away defeats to Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals, to lose all its matches on the road so far this season.

All its losses have come against sides who are struggling this season. SRH had lost two and won once before getting its act together at Eden Gardens, while its old nemesis Mumbai Indians revived its campaign against a misfiring Delhi Capitals and KKR. Two reverses may have led KKR to press the panic button as it rung in four changes against DC.

As it turned out, Delhi went on to secure its first win of the season after five losses on the trot. The common thing in all the three losses has been the KKR batters’ collective failure, while the bowling unit has performed better.

KKR had 67 dot balls as it put up its worst batting show of the season to be all out for 127 against DC in its last match.

Approaching the halfway stage of the season, it’s time for KKR to go back to the drawing board and address the issues, instead of just chopping and changing its XI. While English opener Jason Roy (43; 39) looked at ease at the top of the order after being recalled in place of Afghan cricketer Gurbaz Rahmanullah, Litton Das had a night to forget against DC on his debut.

The biggest positive for KKR in Delhi has been the return to form of Andre Russell, who hit some monstrous sixes to lift it to 127 after a batting collapse.

It will also be the biggest test for KKR’s skipper Rana as emotions will sway in favour of CSK talisman MS Dhoni in what could potentially be his last appearance at the iconic Eden Gardens. A sea of yellow fans, sporting the signature No. 7 Dhoni jersey, is likely to flood the Eden Gardens on Sunday evening.

Such has been the demand that tickets for this marquee match have been sold out in advance. And the ones available in the black market are being sold at an extremely inflated price.

It has been a typical CSK show by the four-time champion as it is ticking all the boxes after starting off with a loss against Gujarat Titans in the season opener.

The sense of calmness and clarity in the Dhoni-led side’s changing room is evident.