The KKR Predicament

Before I start on my thoughts, for those select few who do not watch the Indian Premier League; KKR stands for Kolkata Knight Riders, The team owned by Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan.

History

Bought for an insane amount of money and having had a number of huge superstars bought for it, this team was one of the most promising prospects for the IPL. That could have very much proven to be the truth when they won the first match of the tournament with one of the biggest margins in T20 History. From there on though, it was a downwards slump. With some of the biggest stars in their team, they started showing the kind of inconsistency that broke millions of hearts of supporters all across the world and had them end up at no.6 in the points table.

Soon after, IPL Season 2 came along and there were new hopes from the team with more stars coming along but the ghosts of the past came again as they lost 12 games in a row and managed to just win the last 2 games of the season. Things could only get better for the KKR.

Reasons for failure

There were quite a few culprits in the KKR downfall:

1. Players: Ganguly, McCullum, Gayle, Sharma, Hussey, Ponting, Hodge; these are the kind of names that can be associated with the KKR. These names all are or have been legends for their country and you would typically expect at least one or two of them to shine everytime KKR plays but has it happened? The answer quite simply is NO. The kind of inconsistency that has been shown by these players has been absolutely shocking!
2. Coach: The coach for the KKR for the first two instalments of the IPL has been John Buchanan and where do I even start about the "great" John Buchanan. The two captain theory? Removing one of Kolkata's most iconic players from captaincy? Or the fake IPL player scandal? Anywhere you look, you would just find mistakes, mistakes and bigger mistakes.
3. Shahrukh Khan: The biggest let down for this simply amazing group of players has been the great SRK. Do not get me wrong, I'm one of the greatest fans of Shahrukh and believe that he is one of the best actors to ever grace Bollywood, but I wish I could say the same about his credentials as a Team Owner. He created so much hype behind the team by making music videos, game shows, etc for the team. Everyone always wants this team to succeed so much that it feels like half the time they play with 50 kg weights on each of their heads. Also in one way or another SRK's reputation and fame have hurt the team. Knowing that this is SRK's team brings a lot of fan following but also brings a lot of weight of expectation which the team has not been able to cope with, clearly!

A New Beginning

A new season has started for the KKR. At the moment when I'm writing this, KKR have managed to beat both of last year's finalists in their first two matches. And after having played 7 matches in this year's IPL, they have a mixed bag of results, with 4 losses and 3 wins, which had a lot of matches which they should and could have won but didn't. A new coach is in charge this time around, Dav Whatmore, who loves winning with underdogs which, in case you haven't noticed, KKR are. Ganguly is back at the helm of this ship and looks as strong as ever. They have made some spectacular catches and taken some spectacular wickets and have shown glimpses of the destruction this team can cause when they start clicking. They need to win another 5 matches out of 7 remaining to even stand a chance of making the semis.

So here's hoping that the mighty KKR can show the kind of form that can help them reach the semis because with 2 new teams coming next year, things are going to be a lot more tougher.

Can KKR do it or can't they? I, as a fan, believe they can!

What do you think?

With the nature of T20 cricket anything is possible so until the end of the season:

KORBO! LORBO! JEETBO!