Kolkata Knight Riders

The Knights of King Khan's army with an updated squad are ready to contest the most awaited battle of cricket IPL 2021. The recently held IPL auctions led by the next generation of franchise owners bought some big names fortunately with little spendings. KKR went on to seal the deal on Bhajji, Shakib, Ben Cutting and others which strengthens the comparatively young team led by Captain Eoin Morgan. The new members definitely bring experience but what more do they have to offer is a million dollar question.

Squad

Auction Review

KKR had a mixed season in the last edition. The team fought hard till the last match to fix their seat in the playoffs. But they could only manage to finish fifth on the table. The problems of opening the innings, inexperienced bowling attack, frequent injuries and mid season captaincy change added to the miseries. Thus the management looked forward to the auction to fix the plugs, which they did it quite comprehensively.

The addition of legendary 'turbanator' will aid Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav to make a deadly trio of spin along with Magician Narine. Bangla Shakib comes with old memories and luck of 2012 and 2014. He can definitely be played as alternative to Narine. In case the later performs poorly or if his 'action' troubles the prospects of the team. Handy negi looks to deepen the bowling attack in addition to his ability to park the ball out of the boundary ropes with ease. Yet another talent from Dravid-Academy Karun Nair would add to the batting lineup. He might also be seen as an opener alongside Shubhman Gill. Hard-hitting Ben Cutting can come to the rescue with both and ball in case Muscle-Russell is unfit. Other addition to the camp like Sheldon Jackson, Vaibhav Arora, V Iyer might hardly get a game to play. However the likes of DK, Morgan, Bhajji etc in the dugout definitely adds to their experience which the team can utilize in times of need.

S W O T

Strengths

A world champion captain Morgan, with DK as his deputy who just won the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy for Tamil Nadu will give a boost to leadership in the team. Also the likes of Harbhajan and Shakib add to the experience. They would like to extract most spin out of Chepauk and Motera where the team has to play half of their league games. Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav would also be in line to get maximum benefits from favorable turning tracks.
KKRs strength definitely lies in its muscle packed hard hitters like Russell, Morgan, DK, Rana and now to strengthen the lower order Cutting and Negi. The faith of management in its young knights like Gill, Mavi, Nagarkoti, P Krishna has brought confidence in them and they are more than ready to shine. These bright stars will be led by the superstars like Cummins and Ferguson, who have given some remarkable performance last season.

Weaknesses

The captaincy issue was resolved last season but if there is any sour thought it might adversely affect the teams perspective. Next comes the opening issue, Gill was a little slow last season and also he didn't get enough support from the other end. Thus KKR ended up showing as the worst team in powerplays. Similar issue stands in bowling, with too many run leakage in powerplays. Team would be hoping that the new add-ons would help overcome the 'powerplay problems'. Another villain in KKRs route to triumph is injuries. Russell last season was unsure of his fitness and the new star Varun Chakravorthy has some similar issues to deal with. Also over dependence on few players has added to the problems. The team and the fans would only want that their bet on the new knights and belief on the old ones perform enough to lift the trophy.

Opportunities

KKR can capitalize the conditions of Chennai and Ahmedabad to get favorable results as they are a spin heavy side. They would also benefit from the thoughtful auction proceedings which has brought a balance to the team. The young lads and the experienced men in purple combined look promising to defeat any team in the tournament. KKR would be looking forward for some fire-crackers from the bats of Dre-Russ, Morgan and DK along with lethal pace of Cummins and magic of Narine.

Threats

Bio-bubble is a major problem faced by players and teams across the sports and countries in this strange times of pandemic. It adversely affects the mental health of players which can resonate on the ground. But KKR also faces other problems. Players like Harbhajan, Shakib come with lack of match practice. Varun Chakravarthy has been under continuous scanner from BCCI for his poor fitness, which might disturb his rhythm with the ball. Kuldeep Yadav has not got enough game time in last couple of years despite being a regular in the Indian team. Also poor run of uncapped players in the squad in last few years is a concern.

Having said all this, 2021 is a fresh season and with a new Government coming in West Bengal this year, the trophy should also be brought back to Kolkata. For that matter KKR hai Tayyar!!!

Probable XI

Nitish Rana

Shubhman Gill

Dinesh Karthik (wk)

Eoin Morgan (c)

Andre Russell

Shakib-al-Hasan

Pat Cummins

Harbhajan Singh

Prasidh Krishna

Shivam Mavi

Varun Chakravarthy

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