IPL 2018: Five pre-tournament predictions gone wrong inside two weeks

KKR have missed the trick in the auctions

Dinesh Karthik has so far thrived in his captaincy role.

It was believed after the auctions that Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have made some serious mistakes during the event and have failed to assemble a unit that would recreate their earlier glory years. They lost the services of some established stalwarts of their camp that includes the likes of Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Umesh Yadav and Yusuf Pathan. But after two weeks into the mega event, they have effectively quashed all the doubts that hovered around their abilities.

The new skipper, Dinesh Karthik, has marshaled his troops well while the old guard of Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla, and André Russell have stepped up to the responsibility of taking their team forward. They got a setback against KXIP in their last game but there is hardly any hope for any team when the Gayle-storm is in full flow. KKR will be buoyed by Chris Lynn’s return to form as he smashed 71-runs from 41 balls in the encounter against KXIP. Russell injured his leg in the last match and KKR will hope that the injury is not a serious one as he has been a vital cog in their success so far in this season. He has accumulated 163 runs from his five innings so far at a very good average of 40.75. Nitish Rana, Karthik, and Shivam Mavi too have impressed in their respective roles. The team looks quite balanced and seems set for a top-four finish.