The Kolkata Knight Riders might not have won the IPL after 2014, but they have played a very exciting brand of cricket in the last few years and have thoroughly entertained their fans.
The KKR squad already had some of the most frequent boundary hitters in the IPL and they made a couple of decent signings in the previous auction as well, which further added to the depth and the strength of the squad.
Here are the 4 KKR batsmen you should pick in your fantasy XI –
#1 Shubman Gill:
Shubman Gill has mostly batted down the order in his KKR career so far, but with Robin Uthappa being released now, a spot has opened up for him at no. 3 and he will probably be slotted at that position now.
Many people are of the view that Gill has underachieved in the IPL so far because he has not been put at his preferred batting slot.
However, now that Gill is likely to bat in the top order, he can be expected to pile on a lot of runs for KKR in the upcoming IPL season.
#2 Nitish Rana:
Nitish Rana’s batting position won’t change much despite the changes in the KKR squad. He will bat at no. 4 again and his job will be to make sure that the spinners don’t put the brakes on in the middle overs.
Nitish has regularly provided the impetus to the KKR’s innings in the middle overs in the last two seasons and he is likely to be playing the same role in IPL 2020 as well.
The left-hander was the third-highest run-getter for KKR last season with the runs’ tally of 344 runs in 14 games.
#3 Tom Banton
Tom Banton has not played much at the highest level, but the way he has batted against some of the top bowlers in league T20 cricket around the world, he is being rated very highly already.
Banton played in the Big Bash League in Australia towards the end of the last year and his strike rate of 177 was the highest among all those batsmen who scored more than 200 runs in the tournament.
Banton hit sixes without breaking a sweat on those huge Australian grounds.
With Chris Lynn not there in the KKR squad anymore, Banton will perhaps open the batting for KKR this year along with Sunil Narine.
#4 Eoin Morgan:
Eoin Morgan had surprisingly not attracted too many buyers in the IPL auctions in the last few years. However, KKR went for him in the IPL 2020 auction and secured his services.
The biggest challenge for the overseas batsmen who bat in the middle overs on Indian pitches is to manipulate the spin, but Morgan can do it efficiently because of his range.
Morgan has got the conventional sweep, but he can also execute the reverse-sweep perfectly and then he can rock back and play spin off the back-foot if he is facing a spinner who is not willing to bowl full.
The England white ball captain is at the peak of his career right now and he can prove to be a wonderful finisher for KKR batting at no. 5 or no. 6.
