In an interesting turn of events, Kolkata Knight Riders have decided to give break to some of their out-of-form senior players. The players are captain Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Nikhil Naik and pacers Shrikant Munde and Prithvi Raj Yarra as the franchise want their stars to clear their heads. The league has entered its business phase and the Knight Riders have lost their way as of now. After a strong start to the campaign, the Knight Riders are struggling to keep up with leaders in the league.
The Knight Riders started the season with four wins from five games before losing their way. They have now lost five games in a row and are languishing at sixth spot in the table with 6 defeats in ten games. One of the reasons behind the team’s failure is the over-reliance on Andre Russell as the senior players have failed to delivered. As a result, the Knight Riders have now decided to send five of their players on a break. The players will regroup with the rest of the KKR squad in Kolkata before their next IPL encounter against Rajasthan Royals, reported ESPNCricinfo.
Karthik and Uthappa meanwhile have decided to utilise the time by training with KKR’s academy mentor Abhishek Nayar in Mumbai. It should be remembered the Nayar had played an important role in bringing Karthik’s career back on track last year. Both Karthik and Uthappa have failed to live up to the expectations. While Karthik has only managed 117 runs in ten games, Uthappa has scored 220 runs in nine matches but his strike rate of 119.56. Uthappa’s knock against the Royal Challengers Bangalore had received criticism from all around.
With the team chasing 214, Uthappa had managed to score just 9 from 20. Knight Riders had eventually lost the game by 10 runs. On the other hand, Naik and Prithvi have played one match each while Mundhe is yet to play a game.
