KKR had a massive turnaround last year when they played the final against CSK despite being placed at the bottom of the points table.
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Kolkata Knight Riders had a massive turnaround last year when they played the final against Chennai Super Kings despite being placed at the bottom of the points table in the first half. They have won the title twice so far in 2012 and 2014 as well. However, they have bid adieu to some of their experienced players like Dinesh Karthik, Eoin Morgan etc.
However, they have retained four players for the upcoming season – Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, and Varun Chakravarthy. With the blend of new faces along with the experienced ones, they are expected to do well.
Kolkata Knight Riders made some smart moves as far as the buys are concerned at the IPL 2022 mega auction earlier this month. They bought the dynamic batter Shreyas Iyer for a whopping price of INR 12.25 crore, veteran Test batter Ajinkya Rahane (INR 1 crore), England white-ball player Sam Billings (INR 2 crore), one of the talented domestic players Sheldon Jackson (INR 60 lakh) to name a few.
READ MORE: IPL 2022 Schedule: Kolkata Knight Riders Full Schedule, Fixtures, Start Date, Time, and Venues
Along with them, they also bought back some of their old players including Australian Test captain Pat Cummins for INR 7.25 crore, middle-order batter Nitish Rana (INR 8 crore), and young pacer Shivam Mavi (INR 7.25 crore) respectively to make a solid foundation as well. Apart from them, they bought – Rinku Singh ( Rs 20 Lakh), Anukul Roy ( Rs 20 Lakh), Rasikh Dar (Rs 20 Lakh), B Indrajith (Rs 20 Lakh), Abhijeet Tomar (Rs 40 Lakh), Pratham Singh (Rs 20 Lakh), Ashok Sharma (Rs 55 Lakh), Sam Billings (Rs 2 Crore), Alex Hales (Rs 1.5 Crore), Ramesh Kumar (Rs 20 Lakh), Mohammad Nabi (Rs 1 Crore), Umesh Yadav (Rs 2 Crore) and Aman Khan (Rs 2 Lakh).
Players Retained for IPL 2022: Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer
Players Bought in IPL 2022 Mega Auction: Shreyas Iyer, Pat Cummins, Nitish Rana, Shivam Mavi, Sheldon Jackson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Dar, Chamika Karunaratne, Baba Indrajith, Ashok Sharma, Pratham Singh, Abhijeet Tomar, Sam Billings, Aaron Finch, Ramesh Kumar, Mohammed Nabi, Aman Khan, Umesh Yadav
KKR bought a few key players for their team for the upcoming season. While Shreyas Iyer will lead the team, Pat Cummins is there to lead the bowling attack as well as contribute with the bat in the middle. Moreover, they have retained their all-rounder – Andre Russell, who has the ability to turn the table anytime. Apart from him, they have spin twin Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy and they both can trouble any batters in the league. Alongside them, young Venkatesh Iyer is also in sublime form and likely to maintain his form in the league as well.
Soon after the end of the IPL 2022 mega auction, the Kolkata Knight Riders revealed the name of their captain – Shreyas Iyer, who will take over the reins from Eoin Morgan. Iyer has a fair share of captaincy experience in IPL under his belt, having led the Delhi Capitals to their first playoffs in 2019 after the 2012 edition and a maiden final in 2020 as well where they lost to Mumbai Indians. Iyer parted ways with Delhi as they clearly mentioned that Rishabh Pant was their first-choice captain for IPL 2022.
As far as KKR is concerned, the appointment of Shreyas Iyer as captain will help them reach new heights this season. Apart from his leadership, Iyer’s batting will help them in the middle. However, they have strong bowling attacks with the experience of Pat Cummins, Russell, Narine, Chakravarthy and to name a few.
Read More: Full IPL 2022 Schedule Here
Considering other franchises, KKR has a weak batting order. Moreover, they have released Shubman Gill, their opener for the last few seasons. Along with this, they don’t have an experienced keeper after releasing Dinesh Karthik. They have Sheldon Jackson and Sam Billings and neither of them could be called a first-choice wicketkeeper as well.
While Jackson, who plays for Saurashtra in domestic cricket, is still an uncapped player. Billings, meanwhile, is a makeshift wicketkeeper and he doesn’t keep in the presence of Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler in the England team.
After Alex Hales has withdrawn from the league, Kolkata Knight riders have signed Aaron Finch, Australia’s limited-overs captain. He can open the innings for KKR and provide with the much-needed firework in the powerplay as well. However, a lack of depth in the batting order could be a problem for KKR.
Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Tim Seifert, Shakib al Hasan, Karun Nair, Harbhajan Singh, Sheldon Jackson, Pawan Negi, Venkatesh Iyer and Vaibhav Arora
Having started in a forgettable way, KKR placed at the bottom of the points table before the league got suspended due to COVID-19 outbreak in India. However, they had a stunning season in the UAE when the league resumed there and ended up reaching the final too. But they failed to win against Chennai Super Kings. Considering their last season’s performance, it can be guessed that they can do well this season too.
