Dwayne Bravo addressed KKR’s batting concerns and defended Eden Gardens pitch after their defeat to Gujarat Titans.
Kolkata Knight Riders, the defending champions, are facing a tough challenge in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 campaign. With just three wins from eight matches, their latest setback came against Gujarat Titans in Match 39. The team now needs a strong turnaround to keep their title defence alive and qualify for the playoffs.
The biggest worry for KKR has been their inconsistent batting. Quinton de Kock started the season positively but lost form in the following games. He was replaced by Rahmanullah Gurbaz for the Gujarat game, but the Afghan batter failed to deliver. While Ajinkya Rahane and young Angkrish Raghuvanshi have shown form, the middle-order trio of Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, and Andre Russell have struggled to make an impact.
KKR bowling coach Dwayne Bravo acknowledged the slump, saying the unit has been low on confidence. “IPL is a tough tournament. And when you don’t start well, batsmen go into a period where they lose confidence. And that’s what’s happening at the moment. We just have to keep backing them, and hopefully they come good,” Bravo said at the post-match press conference, as quoted by Cricbuzz.
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Backing Russell despite a lean patch, Bravo said: “Russell is an experienced player. He’s a successful player. Just a couple of games, the leg spinners have got him out. But I don’t think we actually had the team batting properly. So that is the reality. Russell is not the only one who is struggling at the moment. But as a group, we have to make sure that the players keep putting in their work and practise, keep preparing well, try to keep them mentally focused.”
In their latest match at Eden Gardens, KKR suffered a heavy 39-run defeat to Shubman Gill’s Gujarat Titans. While pitch conditions at Eden Gardens have come under the spotlight in recent weeks due to internal friction between the KKR team management and pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee, Bravo refused to blame the surface.
“Nothing is wrong with the wicket. I wouldn’t come here to talk about the wicket. I think both teams play on the wicket and, you know, we didn’t play a good game of cricket. So definitely if we don’t play in the three facets of the game, good, and the other team play better, more likely they will win. So I’m not having anything, nothing is wrong with the wicket. So I just felt that they play better than us. They win key moments and their batsmen bat in the, the guys who bat in the first three, they both score half centuries. So I think that was the difference,” Bravo concluded.
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