'No rhythm, no substantial partnerships' - Eoin Morgan analyses KKR's performance against GT
KKR lost the match by 39 runs.
Former England and Kolkata Knight Riders' captain Eoin Morgan analysed the Kolkata-based franchise's poor performance in the last game against Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2025. KKR, chasing 199 runs, did not look like scoring the needful after the first few overs. Eventually, they lost the game by 39 runs.
Morgan claimed the defending champions couldn't bounce back after the embarrassing defeat against PBKS. The Englishman felt KKR had similar patterns in most of their losses in the ongoing tournament.
"Kolkata Knight Riders have simply not bounced back as well as we would have liked them to. It’s always a good sign for a strong team with a lot of character, but they had the same failures they’ve shown throughout the tournament," Morgan said to JioHotstar.
Morgan noted that the key changes in KKR's batting order, where Angkrish Raghuvanshi, the best batter for KKR in the season, came down to bat at number 9, but did not work well for them.
"They made a couple of changes, mainly to try and gain some impetus in their batting line-up, and it didn’t necessarily come off. Were the changes worth it? They'll sit back and say no," the former KKR batter added.
Morgan then reviewed Ajinkya Rahane's statement on KKR's loss against GT, where the latter claimed a target of 199 was chaseable. Having analyzed the game, the former England skipper felt the pitch was such that the ball held on to the deck a bit. He felt that hitting boundaries became harder, and creating rhythm was not as easy. While Morgan credited GT for batting well by stitching good partnerships, he felt KKR could not do it, and claimed it was the reason behind their loss.
"It was interesting to hear Ajinkya Rahane talk about 199 being a chaseable score. Because towards the back end of the Gujarat Titans’ innings, we thought the ball held up more than we expected. That made finding boundaries harder. But there was no rhythm, no substantial partnerships—almost the polar opposite of what Gujarat Titans displayed today," Morgan added.
It’s great to see Prasidh Krishna growing as a player: Eoin Morgan
Morgan praised Prasidh Krishna's bowling performance against KKR and in the IPL 2025, in general. He claimed the rhythm of the current Purple Cap holder has been getting better. The former ODI World Cup-winning captain gave props to Prasidh for working around his pace and helping his team to have an impact in the middle-overs phase.
“He’s the Purple Cap holder at the moment, and his rhythm just keeps getting better. We know he has that extra bit of pace to work with, but you have to admire the strength he brings during the middle phase of the game. As a captain, having a seamer who can make that kind of impact in the middle overs is priceless," Morgan added.
Having captained Krishna in the IPL, the Englishman noted how good a campaign he has had so far, where he has been the leading wicket-taker, having four wickets more than the second-best in the list. Morgan concluded by saying it was great to see the evolution of Krishna across formats, and getting rewards from the Indian Cricket Team.
"He now finds himself with the most wickets in this year’s tournament—by some margin, actually, by four. It’s great to see him growing as a player, evolving across formats, and now being rewarded with national honours as well," Morgan concluded.
Download Our App