The 2-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders have found themselves in troubling waters for the last couple of seasons. They finished in the 7th position in the 2022 and 2023 seasons which is definitely not what the KKR fans would be happy with. We are approaching the IPL 2024 auctions and there are a few loopholes that the Kolkata franchise must plug if they want to regain the glory. In this article, we will take a look at 3 areas of improvement for KKR ahead of the upcoming auctions.
Here are the areas of improvement for KKR:
The Opening Slot
Kolkata Knight Riders have not been able to find their stable opening pair. They have been shuffling the players to open the innings but without much success. Last season they gave the likes of Litton Das, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, and Narayan Jagadeesan among others an opportunity to open the innings but apart from Gurbaz, no one has been impressive. In the glory days of KKR Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa used to be their permanent opening pair which gave them a lot of success and they must tread the same path if they want to bring back those days.
“The Andre Russell Issue”
Andre Russell has been the x factor for Kolkata Knight Riders in the past few seasons but only on paper. He has never played to his full potential in the last couple of seasons. His injury proneness is another area of concern for the franchise. The management must think of an all-rounder who can replace Andre Russell in the starting lineup whenever he goes out of form or gets injured. A non-performing all-rounder really disturbs the balance of the squad and the management should take steps to alleviate this problem.
A Quality Fast Bowler
Kolkata Knight Riders do not really have a tearaway fast bowling option who can dominate the opposition. They had Lockie Ferguson but he has not been retained and the Kiwi pacer looked a pale shadow of what he was a few years back. Whenever KKR has won a trophy, they have had at least one quality fast bowler whether it was Brett Lee in 2012 or Morne Morkel in 2014. KKR really needs to search for a fast-bowling knight who can lead the fast-bowling department and guide young prospects like Harshit Rana.
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