OPINION
Follow UsBest finish: Champions in 2012 and 2014
Worst finish: 8th in 2009
IPL 2020 finish: 5th
Top Run-Getter: Gautam Gambhir – 3035
Top Wicket-Taker: Sunil Narine - 127
New additions in 2021: Shakib al Hasan, Karun Nair, Harbhajan Singh, Sheldon Jackson, Pawan Negi, Venkatesh Iyer and Vaibhav Arora
Kolkata Knight Riders have some of the biggest match-winners when it comes to T20 cricket but most of them couldn't get going in the last edition of the Indian Premier League. The two-time champions looked out of place and couldn't qualify for the playoffs because of their poor Net Run Rate. The Eoin Morgan-led side would be eager to turn things around in the forthcoming season, but for that to happen, Kolkata will need quite a few things to go in their favour.
The likes of Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Dinesh Karthik, and some of the young players didn't have a great last season but the franchise stuck with them and it's now up to them to repay the faith shown by the team management.
STRENGTHS
Not many things went right for KKR last season but Varun Chakravarthy managed to make quite an impression. The mystery spinner scalped 17 wickets at a strike rate of 18.3 and an economy rate of just 6.84. The 29-year-old from Tamil Nadu troubled most of the batsmen with his variations and would have even made his India debut by now if not for fitness-related issues. Kolkata had the third-best economy rate of 7.57 in the middle overs (7-15) and it was largely because of Chakravarthy.
In Morgan, Russell, and Karthik, Kolkata have three phenomenal finishers but the latter two had a horrible season last year. Karthik even gave up captaincy midway through the season and it was Morgan who took over the charge. The England white-ball captain and Shubman Gill were the only two KKR batsmen who scored more than 400 runs in the last edition. Morgan scored most of his runs in the last five overs, and if could get support from Russell and Karthik, Kolkata could cause some serious damage in the forthcoming season.
WEAKNESSES
Kolkata bought Pat Cummins for 15.5 crore but the Australian paceman didn't quite set the stage on fire. Lockie Ferguson could only play five encounters, while the young Indian seamers were taken to cleaners in most of the games. The likes of Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna, and Sandeep Warrier failed to do the job as Kolkata struggled to pick wickets in the powerplay.
Most of the KKR batsmen simply didn't show up last season. They had the worst batting average and balls per wicket ratio in the last edition, and on top of that, also didn't have a great strike rate. Gill was steady as an opener but his partners failed to score at a good pace, and as a result, Kolkata (7.1) had the worst scoring rate in the powerplay.
OPPORTUNITIES
Gill was KKR's highest run-scorer last season, scoring 440 runs at an average of 33.84. However, the stylish right-hander managed those runs at a mediocre strike rate of 117.96, which is way too less even for an anchor. The Kolkata team management will have to take a call on who could partner Gill at the top, and whoever that is, will have to score at a rapid pace. Meanwhile, Gill too will look to work on his strike rate and operate around at least 130-140.
It will also be interesting to see who opens along with Gill. The opponents have figured out how to bowl to Narine and it's highly unlikely KKR would partner him with Gill. They have Tim Seifert but it would be difficult to fit him in the XI. They bought Shakib Al Hasan in the 2021 auction and the Bangladesh all-rounder could easily bat at No. 3 or 4, allowing KKR to use either Nitish Rana or Rahul Tripathi as an opener.
Tripathi averages 26 and has a strike rate of 121.9 as an opener since 2018 but has done well at No. 4 (37 and 145.7 respectively). Kolkata could bat Rana at the top and then bring in Shakib and Tripathi to keep the left-right combination going.
Kolkata have invested a lot in their young seamers - Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna, and Sandeep Warrier - but haven't yet got desired results. Krishna recently made his India debut, and the franchise would be expecting these four bowlers to repay their faith in the forthcoming season. They also got Vaibhav Arora (seamer from Himachal Pradesh) and Venkatesh Iyer (all-rounder from Madhya Pradesh) in the auction after their impressive showings in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy. The two could feature in the playing XI at some stage if the aforementioned names fail to deliver.
THREATS
KKR will need Russell, Narine, Morgan, and Karthik at their best if they want to make their presence felt in IPL 2021. The former two however haven't played much cricket of late and that could come back to haunt them. Shakib too is making a comeback from an injury, while Morgan struggled to get going against India in the T20I series. Meanwhile, Karthik led Tamil Nadu to victory in SMAT 2021 and even played a couple of match-defining cameos. Russell and Karthik are known for playing those game-changing knocks in the second half of the innings, but if they fail once again, KKR could be found wanting.
Chakravarthy and Shakib will have to take care of the spin department because Kolkata don't have solid back-ups. Kuldeep Yadav has been in horrible form for quite some time now, while Harbhajan Singh hasn't played any competitive cricket since IPL 2019. Meanwhile, it would be difficult for KKR to play Narine considering they have Shakib and Russell as pure all-rounders.
PROBABLE XI
Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Shakib Al Hasan, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna.