Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have not won two games in a row in IPL 2025 but have not lost consecutive games either. After each loss - three so far, to go with three wins - they have made the necessary tweaks to the side and that has helped them stay relevant, feels Sanjay Bangar. The defending champions occupy third place on the points table at this stage, and Bangar puts it down to KKR "slowly and steadily trying to learn from the mistakes" and checking boxes "on the go".
Against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Friday night, they brought in Moeen Ali as their third spinner, with the idea that his offspin would offer a good match-up against a side filled with left-hand batters. CSK were no match for KKR's spinners as the trio of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Moeen shared six wickets between them in 12 overs to strangle CSK and stop them at 103 for 9.
The promotion of Rinku Singh to No. 4 impressed Bangar too. Rinku has been slotting in at No. 6 or 7 to accommodate Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who comes in as the Impact Sub at No. 4 or 5 depending on the match situation. On Friday, Rinku didn't have much to do when he went out at 85 for 2, finishing unbeaten on 15 off 12.
"They picked the right squad," Bangar said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut show. "They were very circumspect of the fact that the mistake that they did in the previous game [against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)] of delaying Rinku Singh - wait till the very end. They promoted him at No. 4 [against CSK]. So they clearly are understanding what their mistakes have been.
"Like in the earlier instances, they played Angkrish in the earlier games. They sensed, they took a right call to have him on the bench and not necessarily playing XI straightaway when they were batting first. So they are a team which is slowly and steadily trying to learn from the mistakes that they are making and what needs to be done, they are trying to fill those boxes on the go.
"And that is always a strategy that smart teams do because they don't really want to linger on to their mistakes for far too long."
On Friday, Narine not only starred with the ball picking up 3 for 13 in his four overs but also stepped up with the bat, top-scoring with an 18-ball 44 to help KKR finish the chase in just 10.1 overs. His opening partner Quinton de Kock, who had only batted against Narine until last season, had a word of praise for the allrounder as well as Varun, KKR's leading wicket-taker with eight scalps this IPL.
"The big thing that the value that they bring is the amount of variations they bring. Obviously, both of them are mystery spinners," de Kock said after the game. "So, it's always mixing it up. I think it's hard to line up certain spin bowlers like that because you never know what you're going to get. And, on top of having that amount of skill, is the area they bowl. I think Sunny prides himself on the areas that he bowls. And so does Varun. They're always working on their games, always trying to get better. And obviously, Sunny, when he bats, he brings the X-factor.
"I think every bowler knows he's going to come hard. And you know, he practices really hard. He's always at practice. I don't think he's [ever] missed the practice, even optional practices. He really does work on it. And, you know, when it comes off, it's great. It means that the team is going to get off to a flier. So, he really does bring that X-factor to the top."