Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), after missing a playoff chance by a close margin, will want to avoid the mistakes of last season as they make their Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) campaign debut against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) – side He farewell to the Late Surge tournament last year. After winning two titles in three years between 2012 and 2014, KKR has gone without a silverware for six consecutive seasons. After their inconsistent run last year, the franchise removed Dinesh Karthik from mid-season captaincy and handed over to Eoin Morgan, but it also did not help them twist their fortunes as they lost several close games. However, with Morgan at the start of the season and the arrival of experienced campaigners like Harbhajan Singh, Shakib-Al-Hasan and Ben Cutting, KKR wants to give other teams a headache and hope that it will cover the distance.
New faces
Since KKR retained their core group of players, they were not left with a huge purse during the mini-auction, but they did most of the resources at their disposal by signing all-rounders like Shakib Al Hasan (Rs 3.2 crore). Karen and Ben Cutting (Rs 75 lakh), as a possible replacement for their star all-rounder Andre Russell, whose injury has been a concern, especially in the last few seasons.
KKR has also acquired the services of veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh with a base price of Rs 2 crore.
Instead of being gung-ho at the auction table, KKR opted to spend smartly, buying young domestic talent like Karun Nair, Pawan Negi, Sheldon Jackson, and Vaibhav Arora and Venkatesh Iyer – all at their respective base prices. for.
Old guard
Apart from captain Morgan, KKR also retained the West Indies duo of Russell and Sunil Narine and their most expensive player, Pat Cummins, who had a mixed season. The franchise held fast bowlers like Shubman Gill, and Kamlesh Nagerkoti, Shivam Mavi, Prasidh Krishna. Lockie Ferguson, who made an immediate impact when given a chance in the last few matches, has also been retained and will be eager to prove his worth once again this year.
The Kolkata outfits also feature some talented Indian players like veteran Dinesh Karthik, Varun Chakravarthy – who were Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi last season.
Last year’s trip
Promoted
For most of last season, KKR looked certain to finish in the top four, but their poor run ended with a resurgence of the other team they missed a playoff chance. Out of the league’s 14 matches, KKR have won seven and suffered losses in seven, but their inferior net run-rate (NRR) means they finish fifth behind Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and SRH Are, despite achieving the same number of points as him.
They want to avoid the turmoil of the previous season, but for this they need to bring continuity in their performance.
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