Fiesty willow, fiery leather: will KKR take the IPL 2017 trophy?

The team has got it right on the choice of players this season, but batting in death overs is weak

From Shah Rukh Khan to the prince of Kolkata, Saurav Ganguly, to Eden Gardens, to the korbo lodbo jeetbo song, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has every oomph factor in its bag. It was Brendon McCullum blistering knock of 158 from just 73 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) that gave this razzmatazz format a perfect platform to take off on April 8, 2008.

In the first three seasons, apart from that breathtaking knock from Brendon McCullum, the team has struggled to find its feet and didn't even qualify for the playoffs.  In 2011, after Gautam Gambhir took charge, the franchise decided to make the team the real star, snubbing hero-worshipping. The move paid off and success ensued.

KKR have always been smart at the auctions and this year’s player-buying was a case in point. For the previous six years, spin had been Kolkata’s real strength at Eden. The re-laid pitches at the venue, however, became fast and bouncy. So Kolkata loaded its squad with fast bowlers this time around. While it brought in Trent Boult and Chris Woakes, it is Nathan Coulter-Nile’s inclusion that is proving to be the real masterstroke. The Aussie didn’t play the first four matches, but has now taken eight wickets in three games. Coulter-Nile’s pace and bounce, and his swing upfront, humbled the famed Bangalore Royal Challengers batting at Eden. And as the bowler worked up serious pace, Gambhir went right under the batsmen’s nose at silly point. It helps when a team is led by someone who can intimidate the opposition with his captaincy.

Statistics and league tables sometimes don't tell you the reality. However — and it’s no disrespect to Mumbai who are brilliantly consistent — Kolkata is the best team in this tournament, and the most exciting of the lot. It is playing an adventurous brand of cricket — from pinch-hitting openers to searing pace in their fast bowling department. Knight Riders has the best run rate in the Power play (10.16) this season and most of its wins have come courtesy tight bowling performances. It therefore makes sense that three of the team's bowlers have clinched man-of-the-match awards. KKR is a team full of match winners who can take the away from the opposition in just one over, either with the bat or ball.

Kolkata Knight Riders' biggest strength is its top order batsmen. They have specialised in victories that involve strangling the opposition and giving their batsmen par-scores to chase. Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa have often been at the forefront of such efforts — they are the only two batsmen to make more than 2,000 runs in IPL chases. Gambhir and Uthappa have scored 376 and 331 runs in nine innings respectively.

However there is a chink in the team's armour, which is its batting in the death overs. The absence of a finisher could pose a challenge in the business end of the tournament. Till now it has only lost two of its seven games and is having one big roller coaster ride. And with one foot in the playoffs berth, we can see a potential three-time IPL champ at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad on May 21.