IPL 2022: Rating teams based on their performance in the fifth week

9. Kolkata Knight Riders – 6/10

The Knight Riders started the tournament on a high with their newly appointed captain Shreyas Iyer getting all the praise. Currently, KKR seems to follow their earlier trends, they have now lost their last five matches just as the tournament is progressing towards playoffs. Kolkata was up against the Gujarat Titans in their first match this week.

GT had set a target of 157, thanks to captain Pandya’s forefront knock. But Andre Russell’s four wickets in the last over of the first innings stole the limelight. While chasing, Russell and Rinku Singh tried to steady the ship after an early collapse of KKR’s top order and took the game till the last over, but Alzarri Joseph bagged the most important wicket of Russell and sealed the match for his team. KKR lost this thriller by just eight runs.

Another loss came against the Delhi Capitals. Decent performances from captain Iyer, Nitish Rana, and Rinku Singh powered KKR’s score to 146. Kuldeep Yadav’s revengeful four-wicket haul disrupted the batsmen of Kolkata. DC chased it down in 19 overs, and Umesh Yadav picked up three wickets. KKR is performing well as a team but are yet to find their winning combination.