Kolkata Knight Riders have a lot to improve when they come out for IPL 2023 auctions in Kochi. Unlike other teams, they have the lowest purse and buying players could be a challenge for them. Also, unlike other teams, KKR doesn’t have enough players as they had retained just 11. Coming back to their season, they had a roller coaster ride to say the least. They went on to win their first two games only to lose their way eventually in IPL 2022. There was too much chopping and changing and at one stage the skipper Shreyas Iyer himself felt helpless. Scenes of him venting his anger at Brendon McCullum remains fresh.
There were also allegations of CEO Venky Mysore intervening in day-to-day affairs of a cricket team. If this wasn’t enough, top performer like Sunil Narine never really got going. Venkatesh Iyer, last season’s hero, was a big flop.
Players retained: Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh
Players released: Pat Cummins, Sam Billings, Aman Khan, Shivam Mavi, Mohammad Nabi, Chamika Karunaratne, Aaron Finch, Alex Hales, Abhijeet Tomar, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Sharma, Baba Indrajith, Pratham Singh, Ramesh Kumar, Rasikh Salam, Sheldon Jackson
Players they will eye for: KS Bharat: In Bharat, they will get a nice replacement for Sheldon Jackson who was released earlier. Although, Bharat has accounted for 199 runs in 10 IPL games, he being an Indian will give KKR some room to slot in a foreign all-rounder somewhere in the lower middle order. Bharat may trigger a bidding war and KKR may lose out because of a low purse. His base prize is INR 20 Lakh.
Phil Salt: Although, KKR has Rahmanullah Gurbaz, chances are that they would still look for a like-for-like replacement for Alex Hales who was released and could have been bought back. But since he has pulled out, KKR might go after Salt who has an excellent T20 record.
Samarth Vyas: Vyas was phenomenal for Suarashtra as the team went onto win the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2022. He had accounted for 649 runs in 28 domestic T20 matches at an average of 29. His strike rate is north of 150 and can be used at 3 or 4 being the clean hitter he is. His base prize is INR 20 lakh.
Daryl Mitchell: KKR desperately needs a back-up for Andre Russell whose fitness has remained a concern over the years. Mitchell, on the other hand, was released by Rajasthan Royals and can be an excellent buy with his finishing skills and ability to bowl as middle overs enforcer.
Purse remaining: 7.05 cr.
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