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Kolkata Knight Riders (File Photo: Twitter)
The two-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders stunned everyone with an astonishing bid for the star Australia pacer Mitchell Starc during the IPL 2024 auction. KKR spent a huge amount of INR 24.75 crores to onboard the World Cup-winning Aussie pacer in their squad for the next edition of the Indian Premier League.
Besides Starc, KKR also bought some youngsters in their squad to build the future aspects for the team in the Indian Premier League. With said that, here we’ll have a look at the best playing XI for the Kolkata Knight Riders for the upcoming Indian Premier League 2024.
Openers – Jason Roy and Venkatesh Iyer
The veteran England batter Jason Roy was quite impressive with the bat for KKR in the Indian Premier League 2023. He batted in 8 innings of the 8 matches, he played for the side and scored 285 runs with a good average of 35.63, hitting two half-centuries. He could be a good choice for the management to start the innings.
To accompany Jason Roy, the KKR think tank might go ahead with the star all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer to open the innings. Iyer appeared in all 14 matches for KKR in the Indian Premier League 2023 and scored 404 runs with an average of 28.86, hitting a century and 2 half-centuries.
Middle-Order – Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer (C), Rinku Singh, and KS Bharat (WK)
The best pick for the number 3 spot for KKR could be none other than the stand-in skipper in IPL 2023, Nitish Rana who also produced some good performances with the bat, scoring 413 runs with an average of 31.77, hitting 3 half-centuries. At number four, KKR would be happy to see their regular skipper Shreyas Iyer back in action with the team after a season break from IPL.
Iyer was quite good with the bat in IPL 2022, scoring 401 runs in 14 innings with an average of 30.85, with 3 half-centuries. One of the crucial batting positions, which is number 5 is set to be filled by the IPL 2023 sensation and young batting prodigy Rinku Singh, who left everyone awestruck with his batting prowess in the last season of the tournament. He is also remembered for the historic 5 consecutive sixes off Yash Dayal to win the match for KKR against GT. Rinku could be followed by wicketkeeper-batter KS Bharat at number 6.
All-Rounders – Andre Russell and Sunil Narine
The veteran Caribbean all-rounder Andre Russell was not so impressive both with the bat and the ball during the Indian Premier League 2023. He could score 227 runs with the bat and scalp 7 wickets with the ball. However, the management might consider his vast T20 experience while picking up the playing XI.
Russell could be accompanied by his fellow Caribbean teammate and star spin all-rounder Sunil Narine, who scalped 11 wickets with the ball in the Indian Premier League 2023. Both the Caribbean stars are capable of providing extra strength for KKR both in batting and bowling.
Bowlers – Mitchell Starc, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc, and Varun Chakravarthy
Speaking of the bowling attack of the Kolkata Knight Riders, the management could think of going with the experience of Mitchell Starc, alongside young Indian pacer Chetan Sakariya. Besides two pacers, Varun Chakravarthy might be a choice as a spinner, alongside the brilliance of Sunil Narine in the playing XI.
Starc and Sakariya are capable of providing amazing coordination in the opening spells with the new ball.