Kolkata Knight Riders Team Analysis, Strength and Weakness, All You Need To Know About Shreyas Iyer-led Side

Seven of their core members from the last year's season, including the retention, are now back with them.

New Delhi: Kolkata Knight Riders – a team which made a miraculous comeback to be among the finalists last year. The team were a force to reckon with in the year 2021. In the first leg of the IPL 2021, their performance was just not good enough as the franchise could only manage 2 wins in 7 games. However, with the arrival of players like Venkatesh Iyer and a little self-belief, it was too good to be true.

Out of the box thinking clearly reflects in the KKR think tank. The decision to retain Venkatesh ahead of Shubman Gill was a brave call, however, it was a testimony to how this franchise prefers all rounders in the format.

The franchise entered the IPL Mega Auction with four retentions in Venkatesh, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine. On the first day of auction, they brought back players like Pat Cummins, Nitish Rana and Shivam Mavi and found a possible captain in Shreyas Iyer (INR 12.25 crore). On day two, they bought foreign players like Alex Hales, Sam Billings, Mohammad Nabi, Tim Southee, Chamika Karunaratne apart from Indian players Ajinkya Rahane and Umesh Yadav.

Strength: Seven of their core members from the last year’s season, including the retention, are now back with them. Shreyas Iyer coming in makes the batting order strong.

Weakness: Doubt over whether Ajinkya Rahane can bat aggressively as an opener with no Shubman Gill around. Absence of a proficient Indian pacer (Umesh Yadav hasn’t been a regular choice in playing eleven) and a domestic batting option may hurt them big time.

Opportunity: Re-create and retain their dynamic self from the previous seasons and go a step far from their 2021 finish as the runners-up.

Threat: Lack of flexibility in balancing the playing eleven, especially in deciding the four overseas options.

KKR Squad: Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, 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, Alex Hales, Ramesh Kumar, Mohammed Nabi, Aman Khan, Umesh Yadav.