With the IPL auctions just round the corner, teams are busy planning their strategies for the next year of the tournament. Kolkata Knight Riders, two-time champions, have a number of issues to sort and resolve and will be aiming to make a fresh start with new coach Brendon McCullum in tow.
The side is in a major transitional phase after having released old-timers like Piyush Chawla, Chris Lynn and Robin Uthappa. The Shah Rukh Khan-led franchise now has 11 slots available with a healthy purse of INR 35.65 crore and will be eyeing a balanced team for the 13th edition of the league.
Batting
With Lynn having left KKR, it is likely that youngster Shubman Gill will open the batting attack with Sunil Narine. With Nitish Rana and Dinesh Karthik likely to be slotted in at positions 3 and 4 respectively, the top order bears a settled look, but they will be eyeing an international player at the top, who can tee off from ball one. With Gill, Rana and Karthik not exactly freak with the bat, and Narine proving to be inconsistent and unreliable at times, an explosive foreigner who can give KKR a handy start remains the need of the hour. The team from the east should definitely be looking at young English wicket-keeper Tom Banton or West Indian Evin Lewis for the role and will want to go all out for either one of them.
All-rounders
This department is where KKR lags way behind. Though Andre Russel is a monster in the format – as he showed in the CPL this year, he is prone to injuries and KKR will be drastically handicapped if he is out for a game or two. This is a department that KKR has to spend considerable money on – not only buying quality Indian stars but also looking at a few international big-hitting all-rounders who can chip in with the ball. James Neesham should top their list of players to pick, while Glenn Maxwell, Chris Morris and Chris Woakes can be options. As far as the Indian all-rounders are concerned, Deepak Hooda, Jalaj Saxena, who has set the domestic stage on fire, along with Yashaswi Jaiswal can be some interesting purchases.
Bowling
While the spin department has been India’s strong suit over the years, the poor run of Kuldeep Yadav in IPL 2019 might ruffle a few feathers. With Piyush Chawla released, Sunil Narine is the sole slower bowler who can cause some sort of damage in the middle overs. As far as the fast bowling area is concerned, KKR have plenty of talent in Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi, Sandeep Warrier, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Harry Gurney and Lockie Ferguson, but it might not be a bad ploy to pick up a genuine quick like Pat Cummins either, who can be entrusted of bowling in pressure moments. If they get Chris Morris or Woakes on board, they will offer the option of bowling 4 overs match-after-match and can chip in with the bat as well. The side also has to add a spinner to their bench and should be targeting Chris Green, Qais Ahmed or Saurabh Kumar.