"NOTHING TO LOSE", "EXPRESS YOURSELF" AND ALL THAT...

Picture sourced from the official instagram page of the Kolkata Knight Riders

From bad to worse to... worser?

So that's six in a row now - our worst losing streak in 12 years of the IPL. But it's just been that kind of season for us, the kind where we just cannot do enough to get over the line in those close encounters. Having said that, it's safe to attribute our misery this season to the unstable nature of our overall campaign itself - from unstable team selections, to unstable batting orders, to unstable bowling attacks and since unstable is the operating word here, unstable fingers on the field leading to embarrassing drop catches and misfields.

Alright then; that’s enough of reflecting on the bad stuff. Before the last game, I thought things couldn’t get any worse, but it did. As I type this on the brink of our next game, things are looking further downhill because we’re up against our nemesis team, not once, but twice in the next one week. MI V/s KKR has always been my most awaited fixture of every IPL, and I’ve ended up being disappointed 8 times in a row now, because we haven’t beaten them in the last 4 seasons (if I'm not wrong). So here’s the thing - MI have never given me good feels since the first IPL, and I think some of that has got to do with their not-so-pleasant and intrinsically irritating players in the initial seasons. After the Wankhede spat in 2012, the SRK fan in me got emotionally activated to the point that I developed extreme feelings for MI, extremely negative of course.

Overcoming our nemesis is the biggest goal for the rest of the season

All said and done, I’m going to now use the most over abused phrase in cricket – nothing to lose – and apply that to my team. KKR find themselves in a position where they can just go and “express themselves” on the field and win all of their remaining matches with a mathematical chance of still qualifying, if SRH develop a losing streak from here. Today’s game is emotional for us fans, and even more so for the fans that flock Eden to its capacity every single time the knights step on the field. It’s our last match at home, where we have uncharacteristically lost way too many games this season - that last match against RR being the most frustrating of our home stretch.  We have a chance to beat Mumbai twice in seven days, and the very thought of that happening lends some positivity to the head as we wind up this forgetful season.

Now there’s a lot of repair work to be done, and I hope we correct what needs to be corrected for next season. But three things that broadly need to happen in the next three games (without going into specifics) – no drop catches, batting order stability and sensibility, and better death over bowling. Let’s start with tonight lads. Let’s go get them Indians - the anti-national has spoken!