IPL 2019: Things the bottom four teams could've done in hindsight

The league stage of the IPL has enthralled the cricket fans with its humdingers. With each passing season, the audience is witnessing the Pandora box of cricket, IPL which provides special gifts for them. The non-stop cricketing action from the last five weeks has been a roller-coaster ride. As the playoffs consist of three former champions the spectators are buckling up for another joyride.

All the eight teams made their presence felt with some jaw-dropping moments. The final four was decided on the last day of the league phase which explains why IPL is the best T20 league across the globe. The teams which failed to qualify for the playoffs also played some exciting cricket but they paid heavily for some small mistakes.

Here we look at the things which the eliminated teams could have done in hindsight :

1) Kolkata Knight Riders

The Dinesh Karthik-led side started the campaign with a dash but then failed to keep up with the pace of other teams. Their batting line-up struggled throughout the season, as only 3 batsmen accumulated over 300 runs in 14 games. Their fast-bowlers were conceding runs at a rate of 9.50. Even their premier spinners scalped only 24 wickets in 14 matches.

Andre Russell was having a gala time with the bat in hand as he scored 510 runs in the season, but he mostly came down the order to bat. KKR pushed Russell up the order when things became desperate and the result was 2 victories in 3 matches. Another thing which could have worked for them is Shubman Gill opening the innings throughout the season. The youngster scored 3 half-centuries while opening, and two of them became winning contributions.

2) Kings XI Punjab

The team from the north of India again flattered to deceive, as they were at top of the table during the half-way mark. The Ravi Ashwin-led team was heavily dependent on the top-order players, as no one from their middle-order scored above 220 runs in the entire season. Apart from Mohammed Shami, all fast-bowlers were leaking runs at a rate of 9.5. Like Kolkata, their tweakers took only 23 wickets in the entire season.

KL Rahul was again at his best as he scored 593 runs at a strike rate 135 and in couple matches, he single-handedly dragged the team to victory. Kings lost the plot in this season due to the frequent changes made in the playing XI. Ashwin, like his bowling, put too many variations in the team by making as many as 31 changes in 14 games. Another thing which could have worked for the team is the explosive starts from their openers as they won 2 games when the team scored crossed the 50-run mark in the powerplay.

3) Rajasthan Royals

The Rajasthan franchise is always considered as underdogs in IPL, but this time they never fought against the odds. The side was full of the proven match-winners but nobody stood up at crucial junctures. RR batsmen had a torrid time, as not a single player scored above 400 runs in the season. The wickets tally of only a couple of bowlers is in double digits which is again a problem as well.

The inaugural IPL champions started their season with four losses under Ajinkya Rahane’s captaincy. At the halfway mark, the captaincy role was assigned to Steve Smith, and this should have been done from the start of the season. Smith fared better as a leader as he scored runs, and won 3 games out of 6. Another thing which could have favoured the franchise is their utilization of youngsters like Riyan Parag and Oshane Thomas in place of Dhawal Kulkarni and Ben Stokes.

4) Royal Challengers Bangalore

For the Bangalore franchise, it was again a season of disappointment after showing a lot of promise, before the start of the season. The Virat Kohli-led side bogged down under the pressure of expectations. Like Punjab, the team was too dependent on top-order, as not a single player from the middle-order has scored more than 220 runs in the entire season. Apart from Navdeep Saini, all the speedsters never improved as the season progressed.

The most popular team of IPL hit a roadblock at the start of their campaign, as they lost 6 games up front. The team never trusted young Indian players and as a result, they played very few games. Washington Sundar and Gurkeerat Singh played only 3 matches and the team won 2 out of 3 in which Sundar plied his trade. Another thing which could have worked is the use of Moeen Ali as a bowler who just bowled 25 overs in 11 games even though his economy was 6.5.

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