IPL 2018: Kolkata Knight Riders Squad Ratings

Squad Ratings KKR: 6/10

Two-time IPL champions, Kolkata Knight Riders have arguably been one of the most dominant teams in the tournament ever since Gautam Gambhir took over the reigns from Sourav Ganguly in 2011 and from there on there was no looking back for the Knight Riders. They won two titles in three years and developed into a solid unit.

Over the years, KKR always had some special batsmen for the shortest format who can easily decimate any bowling attack on his day and even in this year it is no different. However, with the team they have got this year it will be pretty difficult for them to compete against quality teams especially if a couple of players of high repute gets injured.

The team lacks a captaincy material, and in all likelihood, Dinesh Karthik or Robin Uthappa will be taken up the captaincy. When Gambhir first led the Kolkata Knight Riders, he also made his captaincy debut in IPL, and there was no looking back from there on. The Kolkata Knight Riders unit would like to fill that either Karthik or Uthappa will do something similar and take KKR to greater heights.

When it comes to batting the Playing XI might be settled but in a long tournament like this you cannot expect to persist with the same team time, and again and hence it might be difficult for Kolkata especially during the middle and fag end of the tournament. In all likelihood, Robin Uthappa and Chris Lynn will open the innings followed by Shubham Gill and Nitish Rana.

Chances of Ishant Jaggi walking straight into the team looks bleak, as he hasn’t been in good form in the recent past. However, when it comes to bowling there, was a strange call taken by the KKR unit. Given their pace brigade comprising of star bowlers including Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson, it was a strange move by KKR to pick two U-19 stars for whopping sums. While Kamlesh Nagarkoti bagged Rs 3.2 crores, Shivam Mavi pocketed Rs 3 crores.

On most occasions, it won’t be possible for the team to play both the U-19 pacers, as Mitchell Starc, Andre Russell and spinners like Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav are also there in the team. The team management might also risk at sending Sunil Narine up the order like they did in the previous year but he is like a hit and miss type of batsman. However, he has improved by leaps and bounds in the recent year and scored the fastest IPL half-century last year against the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Dinesh Karthik will occupy the middle order and will also play the role of a finisher. Andre Russell will float around the batting order and will play according to the situation of the game. The pace bowling attack is expected to comprise the likes of Mitchell Starc, Kamlesh Nagarkoti.

Kuldeep Yadav and Sunil Narine. If Narine fires consistently and Nagarkoti fails to make an impression, Mavi will get a look in.

Here is the Full Kolkata Knight Riders squad

Andre Russell (Retained), Sunil Narine (Retained), Mitchell Starc (Rs 9.4 crore), Chris Lynn (Rs 9.6 crore), Dinesh Karthik (Rs 7.4 crore), Robin Uthappa (Rs 6.4 crore Retained via RTM), Piyush Chawla (Rs 4.2 crore Retained via RTM), Kuldeep Yadav (Rs 4.8 crore Retained via RTM), Shubman Gill (Rs 1.8 crore), Ishank Jaggi (Rs 20 lakh), Kamlesh Nagarkoti (Rs 3.2 crore), Nitish Rana (Rs 3.4 crore), Vinay Kumar (Rs 1 crore), Apoorv Wankhade (Rs 20 lakh), Rinku Singh (Rs 80 lakh), Shivam Mavi (Rs 3 crore), Cameron Delport (Rs 30 lakh), Mitchell Johnson (Rs 2 crore), Javon Searless (Rs 30 Lakh)