Expecting Chris Lynn, Andre Russell to play the first game: Venky Mysore

Venky Mysore, the CEO of Kolkata Knight Riders said that the team is expecting Chris Lynn and Andre Russell to be fit for the opening game of the eleventh edition of Indian Premier League (IPL).

“We are expecting Lynn and Russell to play on 8 April. They will join the camp,” Mysore said on the sidelines of Sourav Ganguly’s Kolkata-leg book launch of ‘A Century Is Not Enough’.

Both the payers are suffering from injuries and are in a race against time to be fit for IPL 2018.

First talking of Lynn, he suffered a shoulder injury during the final of Trans-Tasman Trophy in New Zealand. He landed on his shoulder awkwardly to stay off the cricketing field.

The results showed that he had suffered a dislocated shoulder but would not require any surgery. He is currently undergoing rehabilitation camp in Australia and is in line to be fit.

KKR spent a huge amount of INR 9.60 crore to buy back Lynn in the IPL auction. The mega-auction was held on January 27 and 28 respectively in Bengaluru.

Talking of Russell, he was ruled out of Pakistan Super League (PSL) after playing four games due to a hamstring injury.

The all-rounder was retained by the franchise ahead of the auction and it (franchise) had to pay a big amount of Rs 8.50 Crore to retain his services.

However, he is also facing the race against time to be fit for the upcoming season of IPL.

Another problem for KKR is the action for Sunil Narine. He was reported for a suspect during PSL and if reported again, he could be banned from bowling. It will be subsequently a big blow for the franchise.

During the launch event, Venky Mysore heaped praise on KKR’s captain, Dinesh Karthik, who smashed match-winning six on the final delivery of the final of Nidahas Trophy.

“In eight balls, he has made us look like geniuses. But we were convinced even before that, that he is absolutely the right choice for us because he brings in a lot of freshness, a lot of experience. He is a class player. With a wicketkeeper, batsman and captain you get three in one there,” Mysore said.

“His calmness struck me. I have spent a lot of time with him recently, and when he came in to bathe seemed like he was confident he was going to win it. It bodes well for us also. I was very happy when DK what he did to win the game for India,” he added.

Karthik was recently appointed as the captain of KKR for the upcoming season.

He was one of the two counters for the job along with Robin Uthappa and in the end, KKR handed the job to their new buy.

Uthappa was given the charge to assist Karthik and he is the vice-captain of the team.

KKR already kicked off their pre-season camp ahead of IPL. Karthik and Jacques Kallis, team’s Head Coach, are not part of the camp and will join the session in the coming days.

Knight Riders to open their IPL campaign against Royal Challengers Bangalore at their home ground on April 8.

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