After reaching the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) final, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) completely revamped their squad barring a couple of players for the 2022 IPL season. Under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer, the side had an inconsistent run, finishing sixth on the league table, with just 14 points and a poor net run rate.
The side would have liked to enter the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) season with a completely fit team but with reports that their skipper Iyer is out of the tournament after a recurring back injury, there is a lot of pressure on the team's support staff as they look to end their trophy drought in the IPL.
Depth in squad a major plus
The injury to Iyer will hurt their batting order for sure but under the tutelage of legendary Ranji Trophy head coach Chandrakant Pandit, he will make sure that the other Indians in the team get a chance to prove their worth. This is the perfect opportunity for someone like Rinku Singh, who has been knocking on the doors of the playing XI for the last few seasons and made the most of his chance in the 2022 edition of the competition.
The injury to Iyer also poses a question of who will captain the team, and luckily, there are a number of players who are potential captaincy materials in the squad. These players include Shakib al Hasan and Tim Southee, but with Al Hasan set to miss the start of the season, it will increasingly likely that Southee, who also captains New Zealand, will take over the role for this season.
In the auction, the side filled the right blocks. They have brought two different options for wicketkeeper-batters who can open the innings in N Jagadeesan and Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Lockjie Ferguson has also been drafted into the squad to join a bulging pace unit of Andre Russell, Umesh Yadav, Southee himself, and Shardul Thakur.
Kolkata start their campaign against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Saturday, April 1, at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali.
Captain: Shreyas Iyer (injured)
Coach: Chandrakant Pandit
Home Ground: Eden Gardens
IPL Trophies: 2
Owner: Red Chillies Entertainment
Kolkata Knight Riders full squad: Shreyas Iyer (c/injured), Nitish Rana, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, N. Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Litton Das, Mandeep Singh, Shakib Al Hasan.
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