IPL 2022: 3 Players who were underutilized by KKR

Last year’s IPL finalist, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), started the IPL 2022 on a high note, with three wins in their first four games. The two-time IPL champion entered the season as one of the favourites under the leadership of newly-appointed captain Shreyas Iyer. However, things soon went downhill for the Kolkata-based franchise as they lost five consecutive matches and were completely looked out with their strategies.

Several things went wrong during KKR’s campaign like the failure of opening combinations, key players failing to fire and frequent changes to find the right combinations. These factors dragged Kolkata to the bottom four in the points table. With 6 wins in 14 matches, Kolkata eventually finished seventh in the points table.

KKR used 21 out of their 24 players and being inconsistent in the selection procedure hurt their chances of progressing to the playoff stages. A lot of changes meant the playing combination was never settled and as a result, the team management failed to utilize their promising players to the fullest.

So, in this list, let’s check out these three individuals that were underutilized by KKR:

1. Rinku Singh

Rinku Singh has been a part of the KKR franchise since 2018 but due to the team combination, the 24-year-old didn’t feature in the team regularly. Rinku had the maximum opportunity this season as he played the last seven league matches but this time he counted every single match he got and impressed everyone with his finishing skills.

The Aligarh-born cricketer is arguably the biggest positive for KKR from IPL 2022. The southpaw batted in the lower order for KKR as a finisher and also played some useful innings to take the side to the finish line. His 42 runs off 23 balls against Rajasthan Royals helped KKR end a five-match long losing streak and kept them in the race for the playoffs.

In seven matches in IPL 2022, the middle-order batter smashed 174 runs at a magnificent strike rate of 148.72. His best performances came against the Lucknow Super Giants, where he scored 40 off 15 balls at an impressive strike rate of 266.67. A

Although his innings couldn’t take his team to win,  it showed Rinku’s composure and match awareness, which was praised by many cricket pundits. Rinku did not get as many chances as he deserved and things might be different for KKR if the left-hander had a few more outings.