Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers looked at the Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) team for the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL). He praised their strong bowling, but he thinks their batting lineup may not be strong enough to secure their third IPL title.
Kolkata Knight Riders made headlines by splurging 24.75 crores to acquire Mitchell Starc in the IPL. They invested over half of their budget to enlist the services of the Australian pacer, aiming to bolster their bowling lineup for the upcoming league season.
While having Mitchell Starc undoubtedly strengthens their bowling lineup, there is a concern about the Kolkata Knight Riders’ batting lineup. The additions of Manish Pandey, Sherfane Rutherford, and keeper-batter KS Bharat in the auction are seen as valuable, but there’s a feeling that these players may not be the match-winners the team would have ideally wanted.
KKR boasts a lineup featuring skipper Shreyas Iyer, Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Nitish Rana, and other talented players. The team is optimistic that these batsmen will showcase their top performances and contribute to winning the third title. However, the franchise has been below expectations in recent seasons, and there’s a hope for an improved showing in the upcoming one.
AB de Villiers On KKR’s Squad For IPL 2024
AB de Villiers acknowledged that KKR has some good batters, but he expressed doubt about the team having a batting lineup capable of winning the IPL. He specifically mentioned that their top four batsmen might not be among the top four batting line-ups in this year’s IPL. Speaking in a video posted on his YouTube channel, he explained:
“I think their bowling attack is fantastic. The issue lies in the batting department. They don’t have bad batters, but I don’t think that’s an IPL-winning batting line-up. Shreyas Iyer is a wonderful batter. He delights me up the order there. Rinku Singh is a good finisher.”
He added: “The batting line-up doesn’t look bad, but I don’t think it’s one of the top four batting line-ups at this year’s IPL. That’s what I think KKR is lacking at this year’s IPL.”
Full Squad Of Kolkata Knight Riders For IPL 2024:
Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer (c), Jason Roy, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, KS Bharat, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Gus Atkinson, Sakib Hussain.
