Kolkata: Alongside death, taxes, and global warming, you can now add Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) losing to Mumbai Indians (MI) at Wankhede Stadium to the list of life's certainties. Monday's defeat marked their 10th loss at this venue against the five-time champions, a record the defending champions would prefer to avoid.

Those who believed that last year's easy victory had broken the curse were in for a shock when KKR, with an impact player in the lineup, were bowled out in just 16.2 overs. Surprisingly, this wasn’t even their worst performance at Wankhede; that title goes to 2008 when KKR was dismissed for a mere 67 runs after just 15 overs.

This season, aside from their comfortable win against Rajasthan Royals, KKR has faced significant defeats. This trend could spell trouble for a team that narrowly missed the playoffs in 2019 and 2020 due to net run rate.

While the losses to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and MI had different circumstances and conditions, a common thread was the middle-order's struggle, particularly Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, and Andre Russell. In both games, they fell victim to poor shot selection.

The importance of this trio to the franchise is evident in the hefty sums KKR has invested in them. Rinku Singh is the highest-paid retained player this season at ₹13 crore, while Russell was kept for ₹12 crore. Iyer, a potential future captain, cost KKR ₹23.75 crore.

In the IPL18 opener, they succumbed to spin, and on Monday, it was pace that did them in. Their dismissals at Eden led to KKR faltering in the middle overs after a promising start of 107/2 after 10 overs. Against MI, it prevented the three-time champions from recovering from an early setback.

Iyer's wicket left KKR struggling at 41/4 after just 5.4 overs. KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane mentioned it was tough to recover from that point. Iyer had initially held back from playing an upper cut off Deepak Chahar but attempted the same shot on the next delivery, only to find it too close to his body.

With the top three batsmen out and Angkrish Raghuvanshi performing well, it wasn't the smartest choice to go for that shot given the conditions that favored bounce and swing. In a previous match against RCB, Iyer had been caught off guard by Krunal Pandya's bouncer, which led to him losing his wicket while trying to force a shot to the on-side.

After hitting a four off debutant Ashwani Kumar, Singh charged at the next ball, which was a bit wider and had more bounce. Unfortunately, the shot went higher than it did far. Singh appeared frustrated as KKR found themselves at 74/6 in the 11th over.

It was crucial for Singh, who had given Pandya his wicket in Eden off his last ball, and impact player Manish Pandey to form a partnership. However, Singh opted to keep attacking instead.

Russell fell victim to Kumar's clever bowling. After struggling to read Suyash Sharma's googly in Eden and getting bowled, he faced a similar fate in Mumbai. He had managed to hit a four before Kumar bowled a short, wide delivery and then went full at the stumps.

“We were battling against the bounce. Sometimes, you have to utilize the bounce and the pace of the wicket,” Rahane said in his post-match interview.

Last year, after three matches, all three players had made strong impressions. Iyer scored his first of four fifties against RCB, Russell smashed 64 off 25 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and 41 off 19 against Delhi Capitals, while Singh had quick scores of 26 off eight balls and 23 off 15 against Capitals and SRH.

Known for his calm demeanor, Rahane reflected on the seven-wicket loss to RCB, emphasizing the need to support players who have delivered for KKR in the past. After what turned out to be a chaotic Monday, he remarked, “We need to learn quickly.” Their next challenge is against SRH at home on Thursday.

Read Also: The Allure of the IPL: What Makes It a Cricketing Phenomenon

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