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According to Sourav Ganguly, the Knights have the best bowling attack in the IPL. You would hardly have had that impression if you had seen them against the Royals.

Except for Murali Kartik, KKR’s most consistent bowler and Ashok Dinda’s last two overs where he showed tremendous maturity and skill and kept the Riders in the reckoning when there was every evidence of Yusuf putting it beyond, none of the others showed any kind of application. Out of this Ishant’s performance was the most disappointing. Ishant Sharma, touted as the next big thing in Indian bowling, however he needs to learn and that too quickly, that staring at batsmen does not get them out! For that, it is necessary to deliver the ball in the just right areas! Through his entire spell against the Royals, never for a fleeting stretch did he look like he was troubling the batsman, let alone getting them out!

Consider Shane Bond as a contrast. This 34 year-old, bowling with steam at an average of 145 kmph, used his craft and got the Riders the breakthrough they so desperately needed after Ashok Dinda, in his first shot at IPL III, got Lumb with his first delivery! The pitch lacked fizz and was slow where varying the pace of the ball was paramount and discipline ought to have been the order of the day. 

Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and Faiz Faisal, relatively unknown rookies, played sensibly, simply dispatching the too short and wide balls coming their way with alarming frequency to the boundaries. Scoring at a steady rate all through the innings the Royals reached a competitive total of 167. It was in the first ten overs that the Riders lost not only the plot but also with that the match. In one of the most bizarre strategies ever applied in a T20 match, Pujara and Hodge, played an innings which was perplexing at the least with neither showing any serious intent at taking risks to push up the run-rate. With over 100 required in the last ten, both perished leaving the team in a lurch.

The excuse that Rajasthan bowled well hardly holds water. Long hops were on offer which was not dealt with, enough short balls to be hit and most importantly hardly any expression of urgency to win. While in the match against the Chargers, Ganguly’s captaincy was exemplary. But here it was the strategy or the lack of it which resulted in an insipid display of poor cricketing ability and understanding. His lack of imagination in shuffling the batting order, not using the hitting power of Angelo Mathews upfront, keeping himself to counter Warne – all backfired! His over emphasis on Yusuf blurred the focus from cricket and the injury-stricken Royals made the team complacent.

At the end of the day, the claim of the best bowling attack rings hollow, the batting appears to be in shambles, lacking both sting and firepower and the situation eerily resembles that of the first IPL. After two years, one is inclined to think, that nothing really has changed in the KKR ranks and the grapevine might just be proved right of a finish at the bottom half of the table.