Rovman Powell, the versatile of Kolkata Knight Riders, said on Saturday that the team remained optimistic despite a difficult season so far, stressing that their fate was still in their hands as they seek to take a late momentum in IPL. The reigning champions have won only four of their 10 games and have to win the four remaining games to make the playoffs. They will face the Rajasthan Rajasthan already in the Royals in crucial equality here on Saturday.
“At the start of the competition, this is a situation in which we do not want to meet, but our destiny is always in our hands, it’s a good place to be.
Recognizing their uneven campaign so far, Powell has said that the accent is now firmly placed on the present and the future rather than on the past.
“It is who at this stage plays the best cricket. Everything that happened before in the first half of the competition is the story. We all know that IPL is one with a team that finds its momentum at the back of the competition and if we can do it, we give ourselves the best chance of being again champions.” The striker was KKR’s Achilles heel this season, with key players like Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh and Andre Russell who find it difficult to find consistency.
However, Powell underlined the team’s ability to display more than 200 totals despite the indifferent form was a positive sign.
“It is an exciting striking unit. To see that we have marked 200 on a few times and many of our strikers did not do what they wanted to do – you know, from the point of view of the striker, it’s just for us each game to continue to improve.
“The last match is a good will to show that the hard work they have done in the last eight games. I hope we can continue to rise up as a group of strikers.” Powell distinguished the defeat against the kings of Punjab, where KKR failed to hunt 112, like a turning point that broke their ranking.
“Certainly, you know, if we have to go back and watch the game of Punjab when we had 112 to do, this game really hurt us.
“It really affected our position in the table. If we had obtained these two points, we would be sitting here with more smiles on our face. But we had conversations and the guys have made incredible progress, I hope that we can continue this progress.” “You cannot become too desperate, you must always trust the process. It is not only an important phase for us as a team, but it is an important phase for all the teams, even the teams that lead which are in the first four spots for the moment.” On his dynamic with his Caribbean compatriot, Andre Russell, Powell explained the tactical approach of the team of their striker.
“It’s more tactical than ever.
“The young Angkrish (Raghuvanshi) was excellent for us. We have these Indian strikers to get in the middle and then you try to add a little Caribbean power in the last 5 to 4 Overs.”
Rahane started to strike
On Rahane’s availability after the KKR skipper injured his right hand in his previous match against Delhi capitals, Powell said there were encouraging signs.
“It is good that we have a few days from the last match he was injured, so the medical team works extremely hard with him. He has shown gradual improvement in the past few days.
“It has started to strike. It is a good sign before tomorrow. It is important for us to have it. It was one of our strikers which has been a brilliant light throughout the competition so far.” Rahane was seen to take some jets in a moderate skipper training session. Pti type on
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