KKR pin hopes on old strengths in new season to go one better

Outlook

Korbo, lorbo... but jeetbo? It's been a while since Kolkata Knight Riders laid their hands on the IPL silverware, and after coming as near as dammit last year, the expectations this season will only be to go one better.

Quite interesting though, was how they let go of Eoin Morgan, the captain who led the team to the final, but the carefree approach is set to endure in what's essentially a team in head coach Brendon McCullum's image. The franchise has taken a punt on Shreyas Iyer this time, who apart from leading the team could also make for a versatile batter in the middle order - something that Morgan couldn't do all season last year, not even in the final, and probably ended up paying the price for.

KKR retained a good set of players and have their match-winners intact in Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Venkatesh Iyer, the rising star who made the cut after only half-a-season of grandeur. McCullum has hailed the 27-year-old as an "incredible story"; can it be the same for the team too? Iyer has a lot going for him.

League phase venue split

Wankhede Stadium 4 | Brabourne Stadium 3 | DY Patil Stadium 4 | MCA Stadium, Pune 3

KKR have lost 10 of the 11 matches they have played at the Wankhede Stadium but have a 100 percent record (6 won out of 6 games) in Pune.

How did they fare in the auction?

Shreyas Iyer came at a price of INR 12.25 crore but already proves to be a great buy for the team, considering they needed a captain who can bat in the middle order. The franchise also bought back Pat Cummins at a hefty pay cut but splurging a combined INR 15.25 crore on Nitish Rana and Shivam Mavi left them little wiggle room for the rest of the auction. The fact that they went on to add Alex Hales (now unavailable), Sam Billings and Tim Southee towards the end redeemed their average couple of auction days to some extent.

Strengths and weaknesses

KKR's strength remains the spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, who played key roles in the team's turnaround in the UAE last year. On top of that, Narine has been in top form coming into the tournament and had an excellent BPL which included a Player of the Match performance in the finals (57 off 23 and 2-15) and second qualifier (57 off 16 and 0-24).

The death-bowling numbers for KKR's pacers are incredibly average. In terms of Indian quicks, KKR don't have a bunch with a proven track record in IPL. Umesh has played just two matches in IPL since the start of 2020 and hasn't featured even in a single game in the 2021 edition. Mavi, on the other hand, has played only in 26 of the 61 matches. Ashok Sharma, a 19-year old medium pacer, is to feature in any professional game whereas Rasikh Salam hasn't played any professional game since making his IPL debut for MI in the 2019 edition.

Tactics Watch

KKR would go into the season knowing that they just strike in the first six overs. They have a poor powerplay record as a bowling unit in the last three editions. In IPL 2020, they picked the least number of wickets (13) in that period and 2021 wasn't much better. No wonder Morgan had to bowl so many overs of spin inside the powerplay but it means that the two spinners can't quite bowl in the middle phases and death overs, where they are needed more.

Uncapped player to watch

Shivam Mavi was in and out of the side that made the final last year but his defining spell of 1-13 against Punjab Kings left a good aftertaste. He comes into this edition with a hefty price tag but perhaps a good chance at making the playing XI on a consistent basis, so watch out. He's 23, beaten a slew of injuries and might be ready for a breakthrough season.

Probable XI

Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Sam Billings (wk), Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Sunil Narine, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Umesh Yadav

*With stats inputs from Deepu Narayanan