Why Kolkata Knight Riders are the chokers of the Indian Premier League

What do the following dates have in common: May 7, 2015, May 14, 2016 and May 3, 2017?

Simple, the Kolkata Knight Rider played the 11th match of their respective Indian Premier League campaigns on those years on those dates.

What else do they have in common?

In 2015, after they had played their 11th match, KKR ranked third in the table, with one match less than the second-ranked team that season. In 2016, they were in second place. In 2017 again, they were in second place.

A familiar script

You probably know how this is ending and but it bears repeating. In 2015, KKR couldn’t even qualify for the playoffs. In 2016, they just about squeaked through, only to lose in the Eliminator. In 2017, net run rate allowed them to enter the playoffs, they got a stroke of luck in the Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad and, in a result which is becoming increasingly and painfully familiar, were demolished by Mumbai Indians.

Still there? Now, let’s take you to another date. May 5, 2014. Gautam Gambhir had left the Motera Stadium in disbelief. His team were 121/0, chasing Rajasthan Royals’ 171. They lost six wickets for two runs and finished 10 runs short. The Knight Riders had crashed to their fifth loss in the tournament in only their seventh match so far. They were sixth on the table, with just four points.

You know how it worked out, don’t you? KKR didn’t lose another match that IPL. They won their next seven matches, finished second, won the qualifier and won the final. It was a nine-game winning IPL-record streak that was as glorious as any. A run which doesn’t seem we’ll ever see again.

Seriously, what has happened to KKR after that title win? Why have they, now for three straight seasons, choked right when it matters?

Put on the brakes at the end

Here are a few numbers to illustrate that point further. The captain and bedrock of this team, Gautam Gambhir scored 387 runs in the first 10 matches of the 2017 season. That’s close to 40 runs every innings. In the next six, he scored only 111. He has scored four fifties this season, but none of them have come in the last seven matches he’s played for KKR.

It’s a malaise which has affected them all. Robin Uthappa who looked like he could do nothing wrong when he hit four half-centuries in five matches has scores of 0, 2, 1 and 1 in KKR’s last four matches. Manish Pandey, even though he did not play KKR’s last two matches this season, showed a similar drop-off towards the end: 341 runs in the first 10 games he played, 55 in the next three.

And no, it’s not a 2017 thing. In 2016, Gambhir could only score 103 runs in the last five matches of KKR’s campaign after amassing 398 runs in the first 10. Uthappa’s performance was even more pitiful, only 67 in those five matches, compared to 327 in the first 10.

Just like the English Premier League and other major sports league, the IPL comes with the same tenets. Teams need to pace themselves and ensure they are at optimum performance when it’s most needed, preferably at the end of the season. Look at Mumbai in 2015, losing four out of their first five matches but going on to finish second and win the title. Or even in 2014, where though they didn’t win the title, they lost their first five and then made a miraculous turnaround to enter the playoffs.

More importantly, look at Rising Pune Supergiant this season. Only one win in their first four games. Then nine in the next 11. A place in the final.

Keep something for the end

KKR don’t just peak too early, they play their cards too quickly and in the process, are left with no Plan B or Plan C, come the end of the season. The Sunil Narine experiment was an idea which stuck around too long. The idea was a good one and it paid off. But by the end of the season, bowlers had figured out how to bowl to him. Right when it was most required, he hardly managed a contribution.

Imagine though, if Gambhir had held on to his trump card a little longer. Brought out Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn at the end of the season. When teams would have scarcely expected it. Could things have been different? Who knows, but the element of surprise can always produce exciting results. For proof, just look at how finalists Pune and Mumbai have used Washington Sundar and Karn Sharma respectively.

So that’s it. Another KKR season beginning in volcanic fashion and fizzling out like a wet firecracker on Diwali night. By no means, is it an unsuccessful one – finishing in the playoffs is laudable. But when you look at the team and look at how it started, you can’t help but be let down with the tantalizing thought of what might have been.