After reaching till the final of IPL 2021 under Eoin Morgan, the Kolkata Knight Riders finished 7th in the 10-team IPL 2022 tournament.
Their bottom-half table finish last season wasn’t surprising considering their IPL 2022 auction performance was underwhelming. So disastrous that even after releasing a spate of players, the KKR will go into the IPL 2023 auction with only INR 7.05 Crore! They have a total of 11 slots available – with at most 3 overseas – for a maximum 25-man squad.
As many as 16 players were released from the KKR squad, while three players were traded in. The likes of Pat Cummins, Alex Hales, and Sam Billings opted to pull out of IPL 2023 while KKR also decided to part ways with experienced players Aaron Finch, Mohammad Nabi, and Ajinkya Rahane.
The IPL 2023 mini-auction is slated for Friday in Kochi.
Chris Gayle says KKR should get England batsman Phil Salt
Former KKR batsman and star opener Chris Gayle reckons KKR should go after England batter Phil Salt. Considering that KKR can’t spend big money on other marquee overseas batters, Gayle suggested KKR eye Salt as the aggressive opening batsman, something they lacked last season and it hurt them significantly.
“KKR don’t have much money left but they should be able to pick up Phil Salt. I don’t know why nobody talks about him in the IPL. He is a hard-hitter at the top & can keep as well. While other teams go for the big names, KKR should pick Salt,” Chris Gayle said on Jio Cinema, as quoted by journalist Prasenjit Dey.
Salt is amongst the most dangerous T20 batters in England, though he hasn’t been able to find a regular spot in the England team due to the established and senior players. In 167 T20 matches, Salt has smashed 3817 runs at a strike rate of 150 and has notched up 26 fifties.
KKR Current squad: Shreyas Iyer (c), Varun Chakravarthy, Lockie Ferguson, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, Nitish Rana, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Tim Southee, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav
Players released by KKR: Pat Cummins, Sam Billings, Alex Hales, Aaron Finch, Mohammad Nabi, Chamika Karunaratne, Ajinkya Rahane, Aman Khan (traded), Shivam Mavi, Abhijeet Tomar, Ashok Sharma, Baba Indrajith, Pratham Singh, Ramesh Kumar, Rasikh Salam, Sheldon Jackson
