3 biggest reasons behind LA Knight Riders' elimination in MLC 2023

Calling the 2023 Major League Cricket (MLC) tournament a gloomy one for the Los Angeles Knight Riders would be an understatement.

Out of five league matches, they managed to win only one, and that too, with the help of Rilee Rossouw's breathtaking innings in their last encounter. They were in absolute shambles throughout the tournament, with nothing going their way.

In this article, we will reflect on the LA Knight Riders' performance and look at the possible reasons behind their early elimination from the 2023 MLC.

3 reasons behind LA Knight Riders' elimination in MLC 2023

#3. Ineffective support from local batsmen

The LA Knight Riders structured their batting in such a manner that only two international batsmen — Jason Roy and Rilee Rossouw — got to bat in the top 5 to do the heavy lifting. While the two didn't set the tournament on fire, they played their roles efficiently.

But the trio of local batsmen — Unmukt Chand, Nitish Kumar, and Jaskaran Malhotra — disappointed with the bat big time, not only in terms of runs but their SR. The three players accumulated 12 runs on average at a strike rate of 103.3.

They put extra pressure on their partners at the crease, as well as the upcoming batsmen, to bat out of their skins, resulting in wickets falling.

#2. Bowling: A big letdown

On a surface that has enough assistance for the spinners and slow bowlers, if your opponent bowls you out for a mere 50 runs and you lose by a massive 105 runs, certainly you have not bowled according to the conditions.

The LA Knight Riders' bowlers were not inconsistent, rather, they never appeared to bowl with a plan or according to the surface.

Looking at the team on paper, they assembled a bowling unit with most of the bases covered, with complementary spinners in Sunil Narine and Adam Zampa, a hit-the-deck bowler in Andre Russell, and a left-arm fast option in Spencer Johnson.

But in execution, they faltered big time, ending up as the team with the highest economy in 2023 MLC, 9.29. They were also the lowest wicket-takers in the competition, picking up only 31 wickets.

#1. Knight Riders Narine-Russell conundrum

Sunil Narine and Andre Russell are the two names that would pop into fans' minds as soon as they think about Knight Riders. The two have been quite a server for the franchise all around the globe.

But the franchise has to admit that it has never been able to crack the code of optimal use of both cricketers' all-round abilities except for a couple of occasions for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Even for the LA Knight Riders, their entry point while batting was quite baffling for many, with them batting mostly in the backend of the innings, with their scoring rate crawling at a snail's pace.

Russell did play an impactful inning against the Washington Freedom, which makes you wonder why the management didn't push both Caribbeans up the order.