Spencer Johnson has been mighty expensive in both games.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) opened their account in the last game by defeating Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Guwahati. However, they still have several areas of concern, especially in the bowling department, which has often conceded plenty.
Spencer Johnson, one of their leading overseas pacers, has been mighty expensive in both games and looked nowhere close to his best. He has taken only a solitary wicket while conceding 11.53 runs per over across two outings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
He has conceded a boundary every 3.16 deliveries, even when the decks haven’t been outright flat in both KKR matches. Hence, KKR might ponder dropping him for someone like Anrich Nortje, who has been warming the bench at the start of the season.
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According to RevSportz, Nortje bowled for nearly an hour in the practice session at the Wankhede Stadium ahead of KKR’s next fixture against the Mumbai Indians (MI). If this report is anything to go by, the South African speedster is set to feature in the next game and make his KKR debut.
There are multiple reasons to drop Spencer Johnson and pick Anrich Nortje for the all-important clash against the Mumbai Indians. Nortje has the pace, and his natural lengths are short, which will help them extract additional bounce off the deck in the Wankhede Stadium, where red soil surfaces offer true bounce.
He has four wickets at an average of 25.50 and a strike rate of 12 in two T20 innings in Mumbai. Spencer can get some early movement in Wankhede. But he has been too wayward and might not extract the best value with the new ball.
Nortje has been equally expensive but has a better chance of succeeding than Spencer in the death overs. He can bowl sharp bouncers and vary his pace more precisely than his Australian counterpart.
Both are vulnerable and have certain flaws, but Spencer has looked bad on relatively better bowling decks. So, it’s worth giving Nortje a chance on a surface where he has a better chance of succeeding. Especially since Spencer hasn’t done anything significant in the first two games.
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