Move Venky Iyer to the top order, says Anil Kumble as KKR still struggling to find their best playing eleven.
Move Venky Iyer to the top of the batting order. That is what Anil Kumble believes is an option to repair KKR’s faulty batting.
Based only on form, the reigning champions, who have had difficulty putting together a respectable run of results in the IPL 2025, may benefit from the one point that the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) earned from their washout versus Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Saturday night. Anil Kumble believes that “they still haven’t figured out the perfect XI” is the cause of that.
They started their 17th and 18th players (out of 21) of the season on Saturday, replacing Ramandeep Singh with Rovman Powell and Umran Malik with Chetan Sakariya, who was injured. Powell didn’t get a bat due of the washout, but Sakariya had his opportunity with the ball.
With only seven points from nine games, KKR needs to win in order to qualify for the playoffs.
“It’s not like they have won two games and now need five in a row or things like that. So I’m not sure [about their chances],” Kumble said on ESPNcricinfo’s Time Out show. “They made – what? – two changes [for the PBKS game]? Chetan Sakariya played his first game. Rovman made his debut for KKR. So obviously they have to stick to that [XI for the next game]. Although Chetan did bowl his overs [3-0-39-0], Rovman [didn’t bat]. They will have to continue with that in the next game.
“In terms of quality and ability, I think KKR have it in them. If you look back at their Championship side last year versus this year, it’s just that their players are underperforming. It’s not that the personnel have changed that drastically. You have Quinton de Kock instead of Phil Salt. Quinton de Kock is equally destructive. [Rahmanullah] Gurbaz was there last year – he came in for Phil Salt [for the playoffs] and did really well. Sunil Narine played exceptionally well last year. Instead of Shreyas Iyer, you have Ajinkya Rahane as captain. He’s batted really well at No. 3 for KKR. So there is not much change, but they need to do something to get all those points.”
“[Venkatesh] needs that pace on the ball. You have six overs, the powerplay, it’s where he can play his natural game, hit over the top. He’s done it in the past, that’s how he got KKR back into the playoffs when they were down and out in Dubai.”