Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are the only team who haven’t played a single game in this year’s IPL and they will start their IPL campaign today against the defending champions Mumbai Indians. They don’t have a great record against the MI team but KKR will be banking on the fact that MI is a slow starter and they take time to get going.
KKR has a great squad that has the capability to win this year’s IPL. They have added some great internationals like Eoin Morgan and Pat Cummins who have a lot of experience at the international level.
Talking about their batting, KKR might have the best middle-order in the tournament. They can potentially the England skipper – Eoin Morgan at No.4, followed by their skipper – Dinesh Karthik at No.5 and then their superstar all-rounder – Andre Russell at No.6. This has to be the most dangerous middle order in this tournament.
Many teams don’t have a proper finisher but KKR not only has one but a couple of them. But along with finishing the innings you also have to look at who is going to start the innings for the Knightriders?
Last year, KKR had the services of Chris Lynn who they released before the auction. They have bought the likes of Tom Banton and Rahul Tripathi but you are not sure as to how they will perform.
One of the players who KKR is very fond of is Sunil Narine. He has opened the batting and done it time and again for the team. The great thing about Narine is he doesn’t waste balls at all.
He either scores a quickfire 30 or gets out on the third ball. Sunil Narine as it is going to be in the team as a spinner and his batting isn’t really effective down the order so they might stick with him as the opener for this season. But who opens with Sunil Narine?
There is a lot of talk about Shubman Gill and we have seen his performances in the last two years. Most of the cricket fans would agree that he is a Top 3 batsmen and not a No.6 or No.7 in a T20 game.
Shubman Gill can make a huge impact if he is opening in a T20 match. Gill opened in the last season against MI and scored 76 off 45 balls. He has the temperament to play the long innings and knows when to accelerate.
Shubman Gill and Sunil Narine, a left-hand right-hand combination would be the perfect opening combination for Kolkata Knight Riders up at the top.
