Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane said that underwhelming batting efforts throughout the season cost KKR their title. However, he also said that the pressure of expectations on the batters might also have played a factor in them not performing well.
“It’s just that for us as a team, three-four guys were out of form. Where we faltered was at the batting end. As a batting unit, collectively, we couldn’t do well. Unfortunately, two-three players were going through that phase for us. And that was the reason we couldn’t do well…But again, they are pretty much experienced enough to handle this situation. I’m sure they will come back stronger next year…Rinku (Singh), Raman (Ramandeep Singh), all the players, they will learn from the mistakes and come back stronger,” Rahane said after the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday.
“When you have a couple of good seasons, as an individual, you put a lot of expectation on yourself. You put pressure on yourself. And I feel that was the case for most of the batters, to prove, you know, that how good I am. And it is completely natural. I’m sure our players, will learn from the mistakes. It’s a lot to learn from this season, as a team. Not for any particular individual, but for everyone. So many learnings from this season,” he added.
Kolkata ended their season on a low note when they were thrashed by SRH by a massive 110 runs which resulted in them finishing 8th in the table. SRH had posted a 278/3, the third highest IPL total in history, thanks to the third fastest century by Heinrich Klaasen. Chasing, KKR were all out for 168 runs.
All their top batters who had clicked last season like Venkatesh Iyer (average 20.28), Andre Russell (18.55), Rinku Singh (29.42) and Ramandeep Singh (9.40) had a tournament to forget while auction buy Quinton de Kock couldn’t plug in the gap left by Phil Salt.
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