Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar feels Kolkata Knight Riders might keep Aaron Finch waiting and ask Sam Billings to open the innings in place of Ajinkya Rahane, who has been struggling with his form. Except for the first match against Chennai Super Kings in which Rahane scored 44 runs, the veteran batter has failed to provide good starts to his team.
Rahane has been in poor form for a long time and he had trudged to 14-ball 8 in the previous match against Delhi Capitals. On the other hand, Aaron Finch, who is a regular opener, is also waiting in the wings for his opportunity. Furthermore, Sam Billings has got his opportunities but he has mostly batted in the lower middle over.
As KKR have promising Indian batters, they will stick with Sam Billings as a wicket-keeper. KKR is expected to play Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, and Sunil Narine as the other three foreign players in the final XI of the team.
Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo: “If Rahane had to be dropped on form, any team would have done it long back. His form wasn’t great for Delhi Capitals either. Before that, he struggled for Rajasthan Royals as well. He hasn’t been in form for a few years now. But captains and team managements still show a bit of trust in him. So if they play him, it will be in hope because he struggled a lot in the last game too with those two reviews in the first over.”
“The simple solution is Aaron Finch who is an opener and sitting on the bench ready. But Sam Billings hasn’t played much (in fact, he has played and batted in all matches so far) so they might not drop him just yet. They will keep Aaron Finch waiting, ask Sam Billings to open – this could be one solution and they have a lot of Indian players to bring into the middle-order.”
On the other hand, Sunil Narine has been simply magnificent for Kolkata Knight Riders. When all the KKR bowlers took a beating against Delhi Capitals, Narine was the only positive for the franchise as he conceded 21 runs in his four overs and scalped two wickets.
Meanwhile, Umesh Yadav and Pat Cummins were taken for 48 and 51 runs respectively in their four overs. Manjrekar believes it is high time that spinners like Sunil Narine bowl the 19th over for his team.
Manjrekar said: “In the last match, Umesh Yadav, who was in form, was asked to bowl in the death overs. He had not done that a lot earlier in the season, was only bowling with the new ball and taking wickets. His economy rate was 12 in the last match. So death bowling is still an issue. Pat Cummins is one solution but he too is a bit of a lottery. If Andre Russell bowls two overs 18 and 20 or 17 and 19 that solves an issue.”
“I believe that it’s high time that spinners like Sunil Narine bowl till the 19th over in the IPL. What’s happening is Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine bowl in the middle-overs, the batters don’t take too many chances against them and their economy rate looks good. But if your fast-bowlers are struggling and aren’t suited to death bowling, Sunil Narine should be used differently.”
KKR will face SRH on Friday at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai.
