KKR's struggling batting faces acid test against DC on tricky Kotla surface

New Delhi: After Delhi Capitals' loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Sunday, mentor Kevin Pietersen said they had gone for a slow and low surface to counter their opponents' strength and held a similar strategy for the upcoming Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday.
At the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday evening, the two teams will use the fifth pitch, which is in the centre, so there won't be a shorter side for the batters to target. And given how KKR have been batting this IPL season, they need a massive overhaul to make it count.

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KKR have scored the least amount of boundaries this IPL season (109) while their tally of sixes (61) is second worst. Only Chennai Super Kings have struck fewer maximums this season (49).

They've scored 1245 runs this season - the lowest aggregate tally among the 10 franchises. Their average of 23.49 is the lowest. They've scored at 8.88 per over, the second worst. Again, CSK have fared poorer in comparison (8.06).
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Individually, there is a gulf between the top scorer Ajinkya Rahane (271 runs) and second-highest scorer Angkrish Raghuvanshi (197 runs) with Sunil Narine (151 runs) and Quinton de Kock (143 runs), Venkatesh Iyer (135 runs) all struggling to make a mark.
The problems with the batting start right at the very top. Quinton de Kock and Sunil Narine have been the regular choice opening pair with exceptions made for Moeen Ali-De Kock once and twice for Narine-Rahmanullah Gurbaz, in the previous two matches.
De Kock, who was missing from the KKR nets session on Monday, and Narine have only produced 109 runs in six matches this season. Their highest partnership has been a mere 46 runs, with runs coming at an average of 18.16 and run rate of 9.90.

Only CSK (19.77) have a lower average at the top of the order this IPL season than KKR (19.87), and their upcoming opponents, DC (24.22).
When probed about Andre Russell's under-utilisation about the franchise, Harshit Rana also mentioned the team's batting. "This is cricket. It goes up and down. If you win two games in a row, If our batsmen [batters] perform well in two games, Then you will start saying that KKR's batting is long. So this keeps going on," he stated.
KKR's attempts at helping their batting show will meet tough resistance from the opposite camp. On a sluggish pitch on Sunday, DC skipper Axar Patel picked up two wickets despite finding little support from others.
Pacer Mitchell Starc, who went wicketless against RCB, will also be keen to make life difficult for his former team. Kuldeep Yadav will be a challenge to work around in the middle overs thanks to his deceptive googlies.
Axar, Vipraj Nigam and Kuldeep could be the difference-makers for DC if KKR's track record this season is any indication. They've lost 21 wickets to spinners this season with the bowlers achieving a strike rate of 17.00 - best among the 10 teams.

With batters not inspiring much confidence, the onus will be on the bowlers to push the team towards the finish line. Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora (11 wicket each) have been the pick of the bowlers while Narine has been a tidy customer with an economy rate of 7.75.
With seven points so far in the season and 10 on offer in the remaining five matches, KKR still have a chance at qualifying for the playoffs. But after grabbing just one point in the last three matches, the Ajinkya Rahane-led franchise need to pull up their socks or prepare for an early exit. The road to that end begins against the Delhi Capitals.