Kolkata Knight Riders made a grand start to the Indian Premier League season riding on the potent big-hitting form of all-rounder Andre Russell. But soon the other deficiencies in the squad were exposed and KKR now find themselves in a rut, which is seemingly becoming difficult to come out of.

After their fifth consecutive loss, which has seen them topple down towards the lower end of the points table, KKR are looking to regroup in order to try and bring their campaign back on track. Former opener and current head coach Jacques Kallis it seems has identified the major area of concern for the team.

KKR are seriously lacking in the fast bowling department with the attack being led by the young Prasidh Krishna, who has picked up a total of 2 wickets in 9 matches at an economy of over 9 runs per over.

Andre Russell is again the star in the bowling department, with 7 wickets, but he has been used sparingly due to his injury problems.

There is a gaping hole in the bowling attack as the pace bowling department lacks a leader and that is what has been the problem for the franchise according to Kallis.

“The frustrating part of this season has been not taking wickets and if you don’t take wickets upfront you are under pressure for the whole innings,” ESPNCricinfo quoted Kallis as saying.

“I think we’ve probably taken 20-21 wickets in ten games, which has put us under a lot of pressure. Yes, your bowling unit is going to be under pressure, you can’t quite be as attacking, you almost have to be defensive when there are wickets in hand. So yeah, the key for us is taking more wickets upfront, and making life a little easier in the middle and end period,” he added.

The other fast bowlers in the side include Kiwi Lockie Ferguson and Englishman Harry Gurney. Another big problem for KKR has been the patchy form of their star spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who has also struggled for wickets in the tournament so far.

First Published: Apr 24, 2019 13:06 IST