Kolkata Knight Riders won the Indian Premier League title for the last time under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir in 2014, but after that this team has not been able to play till the final in a single season. It will not be easy for KKR to win the title this time too.
New Delhi: It is said that when the guide is right then those who walk on the path achieve success in their destination. Chandrakant Pandit has proved this many times. Pandit is the name of Indian domestic cricket whose teams have achieved great success in coaching. When Pandit became the coach of Vidarbha, this team won the Ranji Trophy and Irani Trophy twice in a row. Awarded the title. When he became the coach of Madhya Pradesh, he made this team a Ranji winner. Now the responsibility of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kolkata Knight Riders has come on the shoulders of Pandit. Has appointed his coach for. With the hope that his arrival will end the team’s title drought that has been going on for eight years.
Kolkata won the IPL in 2012 and 2014 under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir. But after this this team has not been able to win the title. There is hope with the arrival of Pandit. Pandit is known as a Khadoos coach in domestic cricket, that is, a coach who runs the players with his discipline and transforms them into a champion team. Have proved, but a bad news has come for Kolkata even before the start of the season. That is, Shreyas Iyer, the captain of this team, has been injured. If media reports are to be believed then Iyer is sure to be out of IPL. In such a situation, the problem with the team is that who will captain the team?
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If not Iyer then who?
The problem in front of Pandit and the KKR franchise is that if Iyer is out then who will captain him. The team has an alternative to Nitish Rana. He has been with the team for a long time and being an Indian, he can be an option. Whereas Shakib Al Hasan is the captain of an international team. He can also be an option, but availability will be a problem in his case. So first of all Pandit has to find his soldier who can lead the team on the field. Although no final decision has come on Iyer yet, the hope of his playing cannot be completely ruled out. It has also been told in many media reports that he may be out for half the season.
Star players are strength
By the way, if the team of Kolkata is seen, then it does not have any dearth of good players. Before the IPL-2023 auction, the team retained Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Rana, Varun Chakraborty, Rinku Singh. Apart from this, he traded Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Lockie Ferguson from the current winner Gujarat Titans. Ferguson of New Zealand has been a part of this team before. Apart from this, the team also traded Shardul Thakur from Delhi Capitals. In domestic cricket, Narayan Jagadishan, who scored five consecutive centuries in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, has also been associated with the team this season. The team has players like Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav.
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All-rounders are of paramount importance in T20 and Kolkata has good all-rounders in this format. This team has a stormy all-rounder like Andre Russell, who apart from his bowling, can turn the match from any situation with his batting. Russell’s compatriot Naren has also shown the power of his spin all over the world. He can also play stormy innings. Apart from this, the team has another excellent all-rounder in the form of Venkatesh Iyer. Shakib Al Hasan is counted among the best all-rounders of the present time. Apart from these, the team also added David Visa of Namibia in the auction. He can also contribute well to the team with both bat and ball. Apart from fast bowling, Shardul Thakur also has the ability to score fast runs with the bat. Rana also spins part time.
there is power in bowling
If we look at the list of bowlers of the team, there are big names in it and all of them can do wonders. Umesh Yadav did well for this team last season. Tim Southee and Ferguson are two names who have experience. Ferguson can prove to be very important for this team this season. While the team has two excellent spinners in spin, it has never been easy to play the balls of both Naren and Varun. Eight overs of these two are safe in a way for Kolkata, in which wickets will also come in most of the matches and runs will also go down.
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weak batting
This team has excellent bowlers. But if the batting is seen then the team looks weak here. After the departure of Shreyas Iyer, this team looks more weak. Last season it was seen that the team did not have any solid opening pair. The team tried several combinations. This season Jagadishan along with Venkatesh can be useful for the team here but he does not have much experience of IPL. Gurbaj and Liton Das are also two more openers with the team, but it will be a headache to choose someone in the playing-11. In every respect, the top order of this team looks weak.
In the middle order, the team has Rana and as a finisher, the team has Russell and Rinku Singh. It is a relief to have these names here, but the problem is that they all do not work together. Sometimes someone shines and sometimes someone shines. In such a situation, it will be the effort of the coach and the captain that the team plays as a unit this season. This will be a challenge in front of the team management.
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Kolkata Knight Riders full team
Shreyas Iyer, Rahmanullah Gurbaj, Rinku Singh, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakraborty, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Venkatesh Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Harshit Rana, Shakib Al Hasan, David Visa, N Jagdishan, Vaibhav Arora, Mandeep Singh, Litton Das, Kulwant Khejroliya, Suyash Sharma.
full schedule of kolkata
April 1 – Punjab Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Mohali (3:30 PM)
April 6 – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata (7:30 PM)
April 9 – Gujarat Titans vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Ahmedabad (3:30 PM)
April 14 – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata (7:30 PM)
April 16 – Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai (3:30 PM)
April 20 – Delhi Capitals vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi (7:30 PM)
April 23 – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata (7:30 PM)
April 26 – Royal Challengers Bangalore v Kolkata Knight Riders, Bengaluru (7:30 PM)
April 29 – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Gujarat Titans, Kolkata (3:30 PM)
May 4 – Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Hyderabad (7:30 PM)
May 8 – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings, Kolkata (7:30 PM)
May 11 – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata (7:30 PM)
May 14 – Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai (7:30 PM)
May 20 – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Lucknow Super Giants, Kolkata (7:30 PM)
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