IPL 2019: Can Kolkata Knight Riders’ hard-hitters power them to third title? – SWOT Analysis

KKR strength lies in their bowling as they possess one of the most enviable spin attacks in the competition. However, they lack depth in the pace bowling attack and that could come back to haunt them this season

Kolkata Knight Riders will look to join Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in an exclusive club of three time champions in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which starts on Saturday. On paper, Kolkata seem to have a balanced side with almost equal amount of experience and youth.

Kolkata Knight Riders will look to join Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in an exclusive club of three time champions in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). (BCCI)

KKR strength lies in their bowling as they possess one of the most enviable spin attacks in the competition. However, they lack depth in the pace bowling attack and that could come back to haunt them this season.

Overall, Kolkata seem to be well-equipped to beat any team on their day and if few of their big-ticket players manage to find form early in the season, expect some fireworks from the team from West Bengal.

Strengths

1) Captain Marvel: Dinesh Karthik has won more than 50% of his matches as captain of the side last season. Not only is he a good leader but also a reliable batsman in the middle-order who knows how to pace his innings depending upon the situations.

2) Caribbean duo: All-rounders Sunil Narine and Andre Russell form a lethal duo for KKR as both possess the power to send the ball miles into the stand and take wickets for their team as well. Narine and Russell scored runs at a strike rate of 189.89 and 184.79 respectively which was the best last season (minimum 150 runs).

3) Spinners: Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla and Sunil Narine form a world class spin trio for Kolkata which is capable to bowling out any batting line-up in the league. Not to forget young KC Cariappa who has picked 25 wickets in 28 T20 matches and is capable of coming into the side if called upon.

Weaknesses

1) Pace battery: Kolkata have one of the deadliest spin attacks in the competition but their pace unit might not be up to the mark. There will be a lot of pressure on Lockie Ferguson, who is likely to take charge of the pace attack. He will need support from Windies medium pacers Carlos Brathwaite and Andre Russell.

2) Lack of specialist batsmen: This team consists of many wicket-keeping batsmen, all-rounders and openers but what they don’t have is a top order batsman who can anchor the innings and has ability to bat under pressure when the team suffers early blows.

Opportunity

If Dinesh Karthik manages to fire his team into the latter stages of the tournament, he might give himself a chance to board to the plane to England and Wales for the all-important ICC World Cup. Karthik was dropped from the ODI side recently but a good IPL might just put him back in contention.

Threat

The lack of quality specialist batsmen at the top may return to haunt them after the conclusion of the tournament. Sunil Narine did well as opener last season but runs on a regular basis can’t be expected out of him. Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell marshal the middle-order along with couple of youngsters but if Narine and Chris Lynn both fail to fire at the top, then it doesn’t seem like they have a Plan B in place for that scenario.

Prediction

With the team that they have at their disposal, especially the spin department, anything less than play-offs will be seen as a failure. However, winning the league this season may just be a step too far for the two-time champions.