Perhaps, this is one of those seasons, Kolkata Knight Riders would have never wanted to experience. They not only failed to make into the playoffs but also they failed to play as a team. There have been many controversies in the dressing room with disturbances between the players. They came across everything, which ended up seeing them out of the tournament. Meanwhile, we figured out Three players KKR might release ahead of IPL 2020.
They started the season on a good note by winning the four games out of their top 5. In fact, at one stage, they were on top of the points table as well. But, things changed dramatically, when they lost six games on the trot. The controversies and the batting position of Andre Russell further dented them to make things look bleak for them.
However, after all, the said and done, they got one glorious chance to make into the playoffs against Mumbai Indians. Perhaps, they bagged one of their worst performances in that game, which saw them missing a place.
Here are they:
3. Carlos Brathwaite:
Umm, the big man failed to display his class in the middle for Kolkata Knight Riders. He made his way into the franchise from Sunrisers Hyderabad but unfortunately, he once again had a poor run of form in the middle.
Though he got minimum chances to show his calibre, he looked pretty ordinary in those opportunities, which never pushed the management to go for him.
Besides his performance, if KKR let him out of the team, they would get INR 4.5 Crores in their purse, something which, they could invest in good bowlers for IPL 2020.
2. Lockie Ferguson:
A lot was expected from this lad ahead of the Indian Premier League 2019. However, he proved everyone wrong with his ordinary performances. He never looked that threatening in the middle, eventually, lost his place in the playing XI to Harry Gurney.
He managed to pick just 2 wickets while bowling at an economy of 10.76 runs per over. The problem with Ferguson is that run-leakage not only in powerplay overs but also in the middle overs of the game as well.
1. Robin Uthappa:
If you think it is because of his poor outing in Mumbai then you are wrong. Not entirely for his slow knock against Mumbai but because of his cricketing skills and intent, which dropped down drastically. He used to be there best batsman over the years but unfortunately, he found it tough to put the bat on the ball.
Not only against Mumbai but also he played poorly in the game against RCB, where they lost it by just 10 runs, which was termed as 2 hits by Andre Russell.
If KKR missed their place in playoffs, Robin Uthappa is one of those players, who made that happen for the franchise. In 12 Matches, Robin Uthappa scored 282 runs at a Strike-rate of 115.10