IPL 2017: Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians reap rewards of keeping faith

KKR and MI, currently occupying the top two slots on the points table, don’t make more than a couple of changes in their XI for any match. While Gautam Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan, Sunil Narine, Manish Pandey, Robin Uthappa and Suryakumar Yadav can be confidently pencilled in before any Kolkata match, barring injury, Mumbai banks on Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh every time. Harbhajan Singh is their most capped player, with 151 matches since the first edition of the league. Mumbai Indians persist with him as their lead spinner even though he is not in India reckoning now. Pollard endured a lean patch before playing a match-winning knock against RCB, but the team never considered dropping the big Trinidadian.

Man for all seasons — Yusuf

Yusuf Pathan played 112 matches for KKR since joining them in 2011, one more than skipper Gambhir himself. There have been several matches on the trot when Pathan has failed to get a significant score, but that did not prompt the team management to drop him. The 2012 edition was a particularly big disappointment for the big hitter from Baroda. He managed just 194 in 17 matches, without a half century. His average (19.4) and strike rate (114.79) were nothing to write home about. But the team went on to win the title and the franchise kept faith in Pathan. Suryakumar Yadav may have an average of only 23.34 over 55 matches, but the think tank believes he can play a vital cameo down the order and win a crucial match for Mumbai Indians.

CSK, the trendsetters

No team had a more settled playing XI over the IPL years than Chennai Super Kings. The southern behemoth, serving a two-year exile had the luxury of fielding proven performers like MS Dhoni, Michael Hussey and Dwayne Bravo. But Suresh Raina, who turned out for 156 matches in the yellow shirt, three more than Dhoni himself, was not the prolific T20 scorer he went on to become. R. Ashwin also caught the public eye through the IPL only.

No capital gains

At the other end of the spectrum, the only player to feature in the Delhi Daredevils squad every year since 2008 is leg-spinner Amit Mishra. He and left-armer Shahbaz Nadeem are the only players to remain with the franchise since 2011. It is no surprise that they find themselves in the wrong half of the table more often than not. Delhi Daredevils seems to be building a team from scratch almost every year.

Not enough game time

Another team that seems to be struggling perennially is Kings XI Punjab. Though they have retained a number of players over the years going into auctions, they have chopped and changed their playing XI frequently. South African David Miller has been with the franchise since 2012 and has played 71 matches, while Indian cricketers Sandeep Sharma and Manan Vohra have turned out for only 48 and 44 matches respectively, though they have been with the team since 2013. Apart from the run to the finals in 2014, they have been struggling of late.