Dwayne Bravo, mentor of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), remains steadfast in his support for the team despite a faltering start to their Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) title defense with two losses in their opening three games.
The defending champions lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the season opener. While they came back to win versus Rajasthan Royals (RR), a crushing eight-wicket defeat by Mumbai Indians (MI) gave a major dent to their campaign.
Speaking ahead of a crucial match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Thursday, Bravo addressed the team’s batting struggles and outlined his strategy to guide them back to winning ways.
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"Yes, we are an aggressive batting line-up but that's not cricket. My message to the batsmen especially is that the basics of the game are still required. The smarts of the game are still required. These guys just need to apply themselves a bit more and I think they're getting to understand that," Bravo said as quoted in the pre-match presser.
"The games we lose, we have those learnings, so that when we speak cricket, they get to understand that the evidence is there on why we are failing as a batting group. As coaches, it is about telling them that cricketing shots are allowed in T20s as well," he added.
Bravo also dismissed premature judgments about his players’ form. He stressed that in a long tournament like IPL, making early criticism is unfair.
"In a tournament where there are 14 games, you don't judge a player who has had success over the years after just two games. You're judging them based on two games, because one game none of them batted."
"In the IPL you don't expect any player to be consistent with 14 games. It's important to keep encouraging them, remind them of how great they are. They already have success in IPL with KKR," Bravo stated.
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Pointing to KKR’s firepower, Bravo displayed his faith in stars like Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh and Venkatesh Iyer, expecting them to win the matches for the side.
"There are so many match-winners in the team, and there will be occasions when Rinku will win games by himself, and Russell will win games by himself. Ramandeep can also contribute to the team, and even Venkatesh Iyer will come into his own and will also win a couple of games by himself."
Bravo elaborated on his role, stating,
"So, for me as a mentor and the coaching staff, we continue to remind these guys how great they are already. You don't expect any player to be consistent for fourteen games in the IPL, but it's important to keep encouraging them and reminding them of how great they are."
Finally, he brushed off deeper concerns, normalizing KKR’s position by comparing it to other teams by expressing optimism that smarter play will resolve their issues.
"Batting is not a main concern. We're not the only team to be in this position after three matches, but we're working on being smarter in certain situations. Once we get that right, we will be fine."
KKR is currently placed at the bottom of the IPL 2025 points table. They would hope to improve their standings when they meet SRH at the Eden Gardens on April 3.
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