Kolkata Knight Riders have always been one of those teams that you root for irrespective of how they're performing. Must be the Dada factor. For the kind of T20 specialists — big-hitters and canny spinners — they have always managed to pack their ranks with, you'd think they would have won the IPL more than just twice. They just somehow seem to miss the cut or fall short, as they did last year. And this year, they'll have to contend with the loss of two of their major contributors — former bowling coach Wasim Akram is off the team roster with personal commitments, and mainstay swashbuckling all-rounder Andre Russell is off serving a doping ban. So, question is: have KKR replenished their side to make up for these setbacks at the outset?
Strengths
Up front, KKR has the seasoned opening pair of captain Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa, who know how to lay solid foundations at a fair clip. In Darren Bravo, Manish Pandey and Chris Lynn, KKR has batsmen who will continue to intimidate despite early wickets. And in Yusuf Pathan and Suryakumar Yadav, they have attacking lower-middle-order batsmen who can be as inventive as they can be destructive. But KKR's real strength is their spin arsenal. Shakib Al Hasan torments batsmen with his ascetic line. Piyush Chawla has a fatal skidding googly. Kuldeep Yadav is a Chinaman bowler (enough said). And Sunil Narine (enough said). Since the Eden Gardens pitch is now apparently green-topped, the likes of Trent Boult, Umesh Yadav (who has been adviced rest for the first two matches), Chris Woakes and Rovman Powell, who can potentially fill Russell's all-round shoes, should enjoy bowling there.
Weaknesses
The Knight Riders have always had firepower manning all spots in their line-up, but the loss of Andre Russell may hurt them massively. Russell, who won KKR at least three matches last season, was the type of batsman to consistently pinch-hit the opposition out of contention, snap key wickets with blistering pace, and intimidate with athleticism. Besides, KKR must find a way to overcome their tendency to forfeit the battle in crunch situations.
Big purchases at the 2017 auction (in INR)
Trent Boult (5 crore), Nathan Coulter-Nile (3.5 crore), Chris Woakes (4.2 crore), Darren Bravo (50 lakhs)
Squad
Gautam Gambhir (capt), Trent Boult, Darren Bravo, Piyush Chawla, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rishi Dhawan, Sayan Ghosh, Sheldon Jackson, Ishank Jaggi, Kuldeep Yadav, Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Rovman Powell, Ankit Rajpoot, Andre Russell, Shakib Al Hasan, Robin Uthappa, Chris Woakes, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, R. Sanjay Yadav
Jacques Kallis (Head Coach)
Simon Katich (Assistant Coach)
L. Balaji (Bowling Coach)
Mark Boucher (Fielding Coach)
How they fared in IPL 2016
The Knight Riders finished fourth in the previous season, having been beaten by Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator clash. While they appeared promising in the league stages, notching up eight wins, they weren't able to get over the line come crunch time against a side they had beaten home and away earlier that season.
Availability of foreign players
Darren Bravo may be available only for the first five of KKR's 14 league matches, as the West Indies take Pakistan on at home in the Test leg of the ongoing tour, starting April 22.
Likely playing XI for first match
Gautam Gambhir (Capt), Robin Uthappa (wk), Darren Bravo (F), Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav, Chris Woakes (F), Rishi Dhawan, Sunil Narine (F), Kuldeep Yadav, Trent Boult (F)
