- Four losses and a no result so far
- Their worst start in IPL history
- Three time former winners
For the first time in IPL history, Kolkata Knight Riders haven’t won any of their first five games.
They currently sit bottom of the table, with one point, from a no result with Punjab Kings. Their next three games are against Gujarat Titans (6th), Rajasthan Royals (2nd) and Lucknow Super Giants (7th).
Previous History.
The Knight Riders are three time champions of the IPL. They first won in 2012, then again two years later. Their last win was in 2024, when they bowled out Sunrisers Hyderabad for 114, and got the wickets easily with 9.3 overs to spare.
Their leading run scorer in the 2024 season was Sunil Narine, with 488, only 9th in the Orange Cap rankings. However, it was their bowling that won the tournament for them. Varun Chakaravarthy took 21 wickets, with an economy rate of 8.04, second in the Purple Cap rankings.
However, last season saw the start of the downfall. They finished in 8th spot, only winning five games, with two no result games.
So where is it going wrong?
There appears to be two problems at the moment – not scoring enough runs and not bowling well enough. So far in this IPL, KKR have only scored over 200 once – in their first game against Mumbai Indians, and here lies the other problem – Mumbai Indians won by 6 wickets with 5 balls to spare.
They were bowled out for 161 by Sunrisers Hyderabad, they set Lucknow Super Giants 182 to win, which they got with 3 wickets remaining. They only scored 160-7 when chasing 192 against Chennai Super Kings.
KKR’s leading run scorers so far are Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who is eighth in the Orange Cap Rankings with 182 runs. Next highest is 14th place Ajinkya Rahane with 152. Then there is a huge drop off, as the next highest is Finn Allen with 81 runs. The leader for the Orange Cap is Virat Kohli of RCB with 228 runs.
Bowling wise, it’s not much better. Vaibhav Arora has six wickets, and sits in ninth in the Purple Cap Rankings. Kartik Tyagi is next with five wickets, then Anukul Roy, Blessing Mazarabani and Sunil Narine have 4 each.
Cameron Green only has the one wicket to his name so far. The leading wicket takers so far is Prasidh Krishna of Gujarat Titans, KKR’s next opponents, and Anshul Kamboj of CSK with 10 wickets.
Kolkata Knight Riders’ poor start highlights a clear decline in both batting and bowling. Once a well-balanced, title-winning side, they now lack consistency and impact in key moments. Unless they quickly regain form and cohesion, their early struggles could derail their entire season.
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