We discussed the upcoming IPL auction in a broad sense in one of the previous articles so now let's look at the teams and the players they can target in the upcoming IPL auction. First we will talk about last year’s runner up ,The KKR team who scripted a historic comeback in the second half of the last ipl season to reach the final. They have been a team which has a loyal and passionate fan base and are also the third most successful team in IPL history.
Kolkata knight Riders are a team that has played every one of the 14 IPL seasons and they have won the IPL trophy twice and last year they were the runner up so they have a very good history in this league. They have played 207 IPL matches in total and have won 106 matches In total and lost 97 matches as well which gives them a winning % of 51.80%. And they have retained 4 players before the upcoming IPL auction namely Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Venkatesh Iyer for a sum of 42 crore Rupees and they have 48 crore rupees left to make a formidable squad. So let’s look at their options.
Openers: They are a team which needs a few quality openers in the auction as they only have Venkatesh Iyer in the team now who is an opener and he is not that experienced so they need experience at the top. Therefore the Openers rhe can go for are 1) David Warner, who will also give them the option of captaincy and is destructive at the top 2) Shikhar Dhawan, same as David Warner but he is an Indian option so that van tenor the KKR think tank or 3) Devdutt Paddikal, a young dashing opener who will surely add to the team along with Venky.
Middle Order- This is a big issue for the knights as they don’t have any stable middle order batting options and they need a few good ones. Some of the options include 1) Shreyas Iyer, a solid middle order batter and a great captaincy option he can be, he will be very sought after 2) Rassie Van Der Dussen, one of the best middle order batters globally who will add a lot to the KKR team 3) Devon Conway, he is a batter who will not only get runs but be consistent while getting then.
Also Read | Kolkata Knight Riders IPL Records
All rounders- This is the most important position to fill in the squad and since KKR kave two quality all rounders, they only need one or two more to complete that part of the team. The options van be 1) Shakib Al Hasan, A player that they had in the previous seasons that they can again buy in this season as well 2) Washington Sundar, A fast growing Indian all rounder who can bat well and bowl in the powerplay as well will be very useful.
Pace bowlers- This is another department where the KKR team is clearly lacking at the moment as they don’t have quality fast bowlers so they will need a battery of then at the auction. Some of the options could include 1) Mohammad Shami, he is one of the premium fast bowlers in India and he can be very useful for KKR 2) Harshal Patel, he had a breakout season last year and KKR could benefit from such a skilled bowler like Harshal 3) Kagiso Rabada, The best bowler from South Africa and one that will be demand in the auction so KKR would be very happy if they could get him 4) Trent Boult, a world class left arm fast bowler in the line-up would be gold for the KKR team in the future.
Spinners- This is one department where the KKR team has good options and they only need fine tuning with one or two more options and they will be all set. Some of the players they could go after are 1) Yuzvendra Chahal, somehow if KKR manage to pick him then their attack will be complete and a potent one 2) Tabrez Shamsi, the number 1 T20I bowler in the world would be a great pick by the KKR team and ass variety to an already good spin attack.
Also Read: Looking forward to the IPL mega auction
