The Indian Premier League’s 2024 campaign was nothing short of perfection for the Kolkata Knight Riders, who lifted their third title in history on the back of a rather flawless campaign.
The men in purple and golden, finished the group stage as the table toppers with 9 wins and 3 losses, with almost every player chipping in the wins. To think that they thrashed the runner-ups, Sunrisers Hyderabad, twice in the playoffs, speaks volumes about their campaign.
Kolkata Knight Riders preview and strengths
Following the title win, it was not smooth sailing for the Kolkata Knight Riders management, as their coach, Gautam Gambhir, was appointed as India’s new all-format head coach, and captain, Shreyas Iyer, chose to leave the franchise.
Not only did Gambhir leave, but even Abishek Nayar and Ryan Doeschate left with him for the Indian job, leaving KKR with holes to fill. A few months in, Chandrakant Pandit was appointed as head coach with Otis Gibson and Dwayne Bravo being the assistant coach and mentor, respectively.
Kolkata Knight Riders retained its core of 6 players from the title-winning campaign: player of the tournament in 2024, Sunil Narine, lower middle-order batsman Rinku Singh, spinner Varun Chakravarthy, the strong West Indian, Andre Russell, pacer Harshit Rana and youngster Ramandeep Singh.
Their most expensive buy at the auction was an unexpected one, Venkatesh Iyer, who was bought at a whopping INR 23.75 CRs. One would have thought he would be appointed the new captain but it was Ajinkya Rahane who will take reigns for KKR this season.
They also added more international power by acquiring players like Quinton De Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Anrich Nortje, Rovman Powell, Spencer Johnson, and Moeen Ali. KKR scored at the highest run rate in last year’s edition (10.71) and to add more firepower into an already strong batting lineup shows that they are prepared to win it all again.
Having Russell, Powell, Rinku, Moeen, and Ramandeep in the lower middle order gives them a lot of firepower to finish the innings on a high or win the match at the death since each player can win it single-handedly.
Their middle-over bowling is also sorted, with Varun, Narine, Russell, and Vaibhav Arora in the side. Last season, it was their death bowling that set KKR apart from other teams and they have done well to hold on to those same bowlers for another season. Now, to that pace attack, add Anrich Nortje and Spencer Johnson, and they possess an attack that can perform consistently and be well-supported by world-class spinners.
Kolkata Knight Riders’ weaknesses
To begin with, Kolkata Knight Riders possess a strong pace attack on paper and even though they did pick early wickets last season as well, there were times that the bowlers leaked runs, with their powerplay run rate being 9.94 – second highest amongst all teams.
Anrich Nortje was ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy so his bowling will be under the scanner. Despite possessing a good pace attack, neither of them are proven new ball bowlers. The South African, was used more often as a first-change bowler by Delhi Capitals a few seasons ago. Harshit Rana can bowl with the new ball but lacks the skill set to do so and as a result, could be easily targeted in the powerplay.
KKR lost the bidding war for Mohammad Shami, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc. Acquiring neither of the three means the defending champions have a vulnerable attack – which was evident last season as well when Punjab Kings chased 250+ against them at Eden Gardens.
As regards their batting, they had Phil Salt last season, who was in form, and Sunil Narine, who had the license to go berserk, and more often than not, it paid off. But since then, Salt was released and Narine’s batting has not been the same – averaging merely 7.38 in the next 13 innings, where he was unable to cross 10 runs.
Even though Gurbaz and De Kock are proven openers and can not only provide good starts but also press on the accelerator, since 2024 in his last 30 innings, the Afghan averages 24.29 and De Kock averages 25.76. Furthermore, they are extremely volatile openers, with Gurbaz getting dismissed every 17 deliveries and De Kock every 18 balls. So, a lot will depend on the openers, because a strong middle order cannot bail them out every time in such a long and arduous tournament.
Another major threat is the fact that they have a 36-year-old as captain who has never worked with the new head coach Chandrakant Pandit. For Kolkata Knight Riders to have any chance of winning consecutive titles, the coach and captain need to be on the same page and the duo must ensure a smooth transition from Gambhir-Shreyas in 2024.
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KKR’s Probable XI
Sunil Narine, Quinton de Kock (wk), Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Spencer Johnson, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana. Impact player: Varun Chakaravarthy.
