IPL 2025: Can Kolkata Knight Riders Turn Poor Start to the Season Around After Win Over SRH?
What's Behind Kolkata Knight Riders' Underwhelming Start to the Season?
The Kolkata Knight Riders produced one of the most dominant displays ever seen in the history of the Indian Premier League last season en route to their third title. The Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise finished the group stage top of the pile and conceded only three defeats in 14 matches - the fewest of any team in a single edition of the IPL.
This season, though, things have been a whole lot different, as KKR have already lost two games and have largely looked like a shadow of their former self. The Knight Riders were dispatched in their opening match with relative ease by the Royal Challengers Bangalore and were no match for the Mumbai Indians in their third match, which they lost by eight wickets.
One of the major factors that many pundits have alluded to as a key contributor to KKR’s dip in form this season is the IPL mega-auction that took place in the Middle East last year. During the auction, the franchise was unable to keep hold of several players who were crucial to their sensational form last year.
Arguably the biggest loss was that of Shreyas Iyer, who captained the team in their title-winning campaign. The India international was snapped up by the Punjab Kings for a whopping ₹26.75 crore and broke his silence after the auction, revealing that the reason he asked to leave the franchise was due to a “lack of communication”.
Additionally, Mitchell Starc, Phil Salt and Nitish Rana were not retained by the team at the auction, and all three of them have made excellent starts to this season for their new teams. It is understandable that KKR may be looking to usher in new blood for the future of the franchise, but foregoing the opportunity to retain four full international-level players is a massive void to fill for any team.
Owing to their mixed start, KKR are now the third-biggest outsider to win the tournament according to the latest IPL betting odds.
Can SRH Victory Help Change KKR’s IPL Fortunes?
After their embarrassing defeat to the Mumbai Indians, KKR secured a much-needed 80-run victory over the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday. Batting first, Ajinkya Rahane’s men posted a defendable 200/6 in their 20 overs and bowled out the Sunrisers Hyderabad for just 120 runs in the 17th over.
However, can this result suggest that a swift turnaround can be expected? Not quite! First off, barring a one-off big performance against Rajasthan, the Sunrisers have been pretty poor themselves, and are now at the bottom of the standings with just one win in four games and a net run rate of -1.612.
What is clear is that the team from Hyderabad have pinned their hopes this season on their batting lineup, and if things don’t go as planned, as they did on Thursday when their top three batsman were dismissed for a combined total of just eight runs, then they are expected to find themselves in trouble given that they lack depth in the bowling department.
Nevertheless, with the likes of Quinton de Kock, Sunil Narine, and Venkatesh Iyer, KKR still has enough class in their ranks to turn things around, but it will not be easy. Their upcoming matches against LSG, CSK and PBKS will be a much better indication of what to expect from them for the remainder of the season, and you can check out our experts' IPL predictions ahead of each of those games here on SportyTrader.
