Having endured a hat-trick of losses before the halfway stage, Kolkata Knight Riders team management has understood what went wrong, said bowling coach Bharat Arun, insisting that the team would be a lot more "steadier" for the rest of IPL 2023.
KKR have slipped to eighth place in the 10-team standings and against Delhi Capitals they made as many as four changes but ended up losing.
"It's very difficult to maintain a total winning momentum in the IPL. Look at all the teams, they have won some and lost some. There is very little to choose from both the sides. So it's going to be interesting and competitive," Arun told reporters on the eve of their clash against Chennai Super Kings, in Kolkata on Saturday.
Arun added they have tried out all the permutation and combination and it's time to back their best possible XI as they approach the business end of the season.
KKR have tried out different opening combinations through the season, and in their last match they brought in Bangladeshi wicketkeeper-batter Litton Das in place of Gurbaz Rahmanullah, who has a fifty to his name.
Litton (4) however failed to impress and missed two stumpings of Axar Patel and Lalit Yadav -- which proved to be decisive as Delhi returned to winning ways after five losses on the trot.
Asked whether they are yet to get their combination right, Arun replied in negative: "Not really so. We have tried out different people in different circumstances."
"You have to see what your best combination through the first-half of the IPL, and then back them in the rest of the tournament.
"Now, we do understand what everyone brings to the fore. Futuristically, if you look at it, it would be a lot steadier than what it was," Arun said.
Arun further said they have to improve their batting and bowling in the first six overs of Powerplay.
"One is our powerplay batting and our Powerplay bowling. If these two things we can really step up, that will add up.
Every innings we are getting close to 200 runs in spite of not doing so well in the Powerplays. Also matches are going close. If you look hard at those areas. We have understood where we have gone wrong. It's an opportunity."
Their pace bowling department has been a big letdown with Umesh Yadav bagging just one wicket from six matches, while Shardul Thakur has accounted from two from five outings.
The overseas duo of Lockie Ferguson and Tim Southee have just three wickets between them.
"In this IPL, if you notice, every team is coming hard in the Powerplays, also because our spin department is doing exceptionally well, so all the more reasons for them to target our fast bowlers in the Powerplay. We are aware of that and I'm sure we will come back with better performance in future."
Asked whether Shardul and Umesh's form is a cause of concern, he said: "I don't think so. If you look at first two games, Umesh has bowled pretty well.
"So, that's not a major cause of worry. Last year, we had got wickets in the powerplay. This year we have not got the wickets as we expected but definitely will look to put stem on the run fest that's happening in the powerplay," he added.
