IPL 2018: Five Players Who Might be Released by Kolkata Knight Riders Next Season

The eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) concluded last Sunday (May 27) as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) lifted their 3^rd title in IPL history after beating Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by eight wickets riding on a sensational 117 of 57 deliveries.

Chennai proved to be just too hot to handle for Hyderabad on all four occasions in the cash-rich tournament. Like the previous editions, even this season we saw the emergence of some sensational youngsters.

On the other hand, the performances of some of the veteran cricketers have been far from promising.

Kolkata Knight Riders performed pretty well under the captaincy of Dinesh Karthik. However, they were knocked out of the tournament after suffering defeat at the hands of Sunrisers in Qualifier second at Eden Gardens.

Let us have a look at five such cricketers who might be released by KKR next season

Mitchell Johnson:

Earlier, many cricketing pundits pitted former Australian left-arm pacer to be the replacement for Mitchell Starc, who was ruled out after sustaining an injury.

Speedster Johnson is definitely one of the greatest bowlers Australia has seen. However, following his retirement, he hasn’t been at his best and was found wanting in the limited opportunities he got in the tournament.

Left-arm pacer was smashed all around the park. He hardly troubled any of the batsmen during the course of the tournament.

In six matches Johnson ended up conceding runs at an expensive economy rate of 10.28. He just bagged a couple of wickets at an average of 108.

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Javon Searles:

The Caribbean medium pacer was not at his best in the limited opportunities he got. The reason of his presence in the team became questionable owing to the no-show.

With the bat too he hardly made his presence felt. However, he was quite ordinary. In four matches Searles bagged a couple of wickets at an economy rate of 12.71. Searles, in all likelihood, will be released by Kolkata.

Robin Uthappa:

The experienced Karnataka batsman was pretty ordinary in this edition of the tournament.

Robin Uthappa failed to inspire Kolkata and his form proved to be a huge factor for Kolkata. He got off to fluent starts. However, on more than one occasions, Uthappa fell to horrendous shots.

The right-handed batsman Uthappa scored only a solitary half-century against the Mumbai Indians (MI). Barring that he was far from inspiring. He ended up scoring 351 runs in 16 matches at a below-par average of 21.93. He is no doubt an experienced player.

However given his performance this year, Uthappa might well be released by the Knight Riders.

Tom Curran:

The Australian fast bowler did bag six wickets in just five matches but was quite expensive. He ended up giving away runs at an economy rate of 11.60.

Curran hardly got opportunities for the franchise and couldn’t quite adjust to the set-up. He finished with an exceptional average of 19.

However, he will be released by the Knight Riders as the young gun failed to provide value for the franchise.

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Rinku Singh:

The gutsy middle order batsman Rinku Singh was part of Knight Riders’ squad, this year. He did play a few matches but failed to make an impression.

Exciting Rinku is a handy batsman in the domestic circuit and especially in the shortest format of the game.

Rinku can smash the ball a pretty long way. He is a very talented guy. However, he failed to deliver in the tournament.

Hence, the two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders might axe Rinku for the next season.