A Good Wake-Up Call - Fix the Issues, Back the Team, One Game at a Time

It’s all in retrospect. Maybe it’s better that we’re finding ourselves in difficult situations early in the season. The sooner these issues are exposed, the better our chances of fixing them going forward.

With the batting, you expect Travishek to go all guns blazing from ball one. That’s their role. I don’t think that’s the issue here. Yes, they need to be smarter and not blind sloggers like it has looked right now, but they know that better than us, and hopefully we see an improved approach next game.

The batting order does need sorting though. Kishan at 1-down and Aniket at 2-down should be fixed. Then you can have Klaasen, NKR at 3/4, and Liam later for the final push. Harshal and Shivam aren’t meant to be finishers, so that definitely needs to be addressed.

Bowling-wise, the powerplay is still my biggest concern. Slower paced bowlers with only variations are much easier to line up and slog in the first six overs. We needed someone who can swing the ball and use the seam properly. Right now, Eshan looked like the only one who could do that, maybe even NKR to an extent...

The bowling rotation could also have been better, especially towards the end. After JD went for plenty in the 17th, that should’ve been enough warning. Going back to him for the last over was a poor decision.

Harshal, love the confidence he bowls with, but he needs to step up physically as well. Lose those extra kilos , put in the extra shifts, improve the fielding, running and batting. He’s supposed to be one of our marquee/star players going forward. Him and Shivang love their fighting spirit 🫶

Kishan, too, needs to own up a bit more as captain. The captaincy, especially in terms of bowling changes and powerplay planning, definitely needs improvement.

That said, there were plenty of positives too!

Now you know exactly why Klaasen is paid 23 crore. He has saved us from multiple embarrassing collapses ever since he joined. Elite player. He just needs another proper match-winner around him.

NKR, without the pressure of having to go from ball one, actually manages his innings really well. Not every game has to be a 250+ kind of innings. As fans, we need to calm our expectations a bit. Under pressure, he bats sensibly. Without pressure, he tends to overcommit and it often doesn’t work. The key now is figuring out how to get the best out of him with the ball too.

Overall, this was a good awakening.

I still don’t understand why we didn’t prepare a proper batting wicket at home to suit our own strengths 🤷‍♂️. With our limited bowling attack, the plans and setups we used to get wickets were still a huge positive. Credit to the coaches for that.

The batters need to take more responsibility, especially at home. The captaincy needs to improve. The powerplay bowling needs fixing.

And finally, the fighting intent. It was a super close game and we almost edged it, but going forward, with Pat back in, we should know our positives and weaknesses much better. We know what needs fixing, we know what’s working, and hopefully with a proper powerplay bowler too, we can play much smarter.

This season has to be one game at a time for us. No far-fetched expectations. Assess each game, improve, adapt, overcome, and capitalise on our batting strength.

Keep the NRR positive and win 8 games of our 14.