Best KKR Playing 11 For IPL 2024

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) kick off their IPL 2024 campaign against SRH on March 23 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The franchise players three matches in the first leg of the tournament. The side will be led by Shreyas Iyer who missed IPL 2023 due to a shoulder injury. 

KKR has had some changes to the original squad that they accumulated after the auction. Gus Atkinson and Jason Roy have pulled out for the side. They have been replaced by Dusmantha Chameera and Phil Salt. Salt was roped in at his base price of 1.5 crores as was Chameera for his base price of 50 lakhs. The addition of these two players has bolstered the batting and bowling departments. 

Meanwhile, a few reports are arriving regarding the availability of Shreyas Iyer for the upcoming season. A few reports claim that he might miss the first few games of the season after he aggravated his back pain by playing in the Ranji Trophy semi-final and final. 

Iyer scored 95 in the second innings of the final against Vidarbha and did not take the field on the last two days of the final. Mumbai Team manager Bhushan Patil asserted that there is nothing to worry about and Iyer will join the Knight Riders for IPL 2024. The KKR management also ached the same sentiment as Bhushan Patil. 

All in all, KKR looks like a well-rounded squad after the auction and with their incoming replacements. They will need to put their best foot forward in the first leg. The return of Gautam Gambhir as the mentor of KKR has further been a big incentive for the franchise. After playing SRH on March 23, KKR plays RCB on March 29 and DC on April 3 in two away games. 

Also Read: Shreyas Iyer forces Jay Shah and company to track back with massive announcement ahead of IPL 2024

In this article, we predict KKR’s probable playing XI for IPL 2024. Notably, Kolkata Knight Riders finished seventh on the points table last season.

Best KKR Playing 11 For IPL 2024

Phil Salt (WK)

Salt replaced Jason Roy in the side for KKR and should be the preferred keeper over Rahmanullah Gurbaz. He is the number 2 ranked T20I batter and scored two consecutive T20I centuries against the West Indies in December last year.

Venkatesh Iyer 

Iyer should open the batting with Salt. He has played his best for KKR whenever he opens the batting. He became the second KKR batter after Brendon McCullum to score an IPL century. Being an Indian batter a lot rests on how he performs.

Shreyas Iyer (C)

 Iyer will return as the skipper of the side and bat at three. There are still conundrums about whether he will play the first few games but irrespective of that he is a crucial cog in the Kolkata Knight Riders batting lineup. He is in decent form heading into the IPL. 

Nitish Rana 

Rana will bat at four. He led the side in Shreyas Iyer’s absence last season and scored over 400 runs. The trio of Iyer Rana and Rinku will be key to KKR’s success. The Southpaw has scored over 2000 runs for KKR. 

Rinku Singh 

Rinku will slot in at five. He scored 474 runs in IPL 2023 which opened the game for his India debut and he has not looked back ever since. He would like to repeat his heroics from last season. His form is key to Kolkata’s success.

Andre Russell 

Russell will bat at six. He scored over 500 runs in IPL 20219 and since then his form has taken a dip with bat and ball. Last season he scored 227 runs with the bat and picked up just seven wickets with the ball. He will be gunning for a big season this year. 

Sunil Narine 

Narine will slot in at seven. He has taken over 150 wickets for the Knight Riders. His best season in recent years was in IPL 2021 where he took 16 wickets. He has just picked 20 wickets in the last two seasons. KKR will hope that he finds his magic this season. 

Mitchell Starc 

KKR spent 24.75 crores behind Mitchell Starc to rope him in This is his first IPL season since 2015. Starc has achieved a lot of success with the Australian team in recent times. The Aussie pacer has picked up 34 wickets in 27 matches in IPL 2024 and 2015. 

Harshit Rana 

The Delhi pacer was retained by the KKR management. He will be one of the two Indian pacers in the lineup. He picked up five wickets last season but it was his pace that impressed one and all

Chetan Sakariya

KKR roped him in for his base price of 50 lakhs. Sakariya has played in 19 IPL games and has also featured in one ODI and two T20Is for India. He picked up just three wickets from two matches last season. 

Varun Chakravarthy 

Varun concludes KKR’s probable playing XI for IPL 2024. He was KKR’s best bowler last season picking up 20 wickets in 14 games at an average of 21.45. He will pair up with Narine from the other end. 

Impact Sub – Suyash Sharma

Suyash Sharma will be the likely impact sub for KKR. The Knight Riders used him in that role efficiently last season. He picked up 10 wickets from 11 games last season.

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