Kolkata Knight Riders have released 11 players before the 2020 IPL auction and retained 14. Their release list included some of the biggest names like Chris Lynn and Carlos Brathwaite as well as long-serving players like Robin Uthappa and Piyush Chawala.
KKR generally go to IPL auction with specific plans and strategies and it is expected that this time also they will have a clear target in their mind. The KKR new head coach Brendon McCullum was already part of the Trinbago Knight Riders team management and aware of the general philosophy of the franchise.
Looking at the KKR’s retained player list it is clear that they already have good cover in the pace bowling department as six of their 14 retained players are pace bowling options which do not exclude Andre Russell. In the auction, KKR will focus on top-order batsmen, good spinners and a good finisher who can be back up for Andre Russell keeping in mind his history with the injuries.
For around 2-3 seasons Lynn and Sunil Narine provided a blistering opening option for KKR but Narine’s impact was failing last season. So by the end of the season, Shubman Gill started to open regularly with a fair degree of success. KKR will look for a partner for Gill at top of the order. One of the options for them is to buy back Lynn with a much lower price compared to the 9.6 crores they spent on this player in 2019 auction. The other options in this opening position can be Evin Lewis or Aaron Finch who was not part of IPL 2019 but has prior experience of the game and will be an excellent pick. An out of the box pick can be Brandon King who was a smash hit during the last Caribbean Primer League with his explosive hitting at the start of an innings.
In the spin department, they should look for a backup for Narine and Kuldeep Yadav. They can go for domestic peaks like Varun Chakravarthy who could not perform last year as per the hype created around his price tag. They also have few good foreign spin bowling options like Khary Pierre (already part of TKR set up) and the young American sensation Hayden Walsh Jr.
Another spin bowling all-round option is Rahkeem Cornwall who with his explosive batting skill can contribute in the KKR lower middle order. The other options for that spot can be IPL regulars like Marcus Stoinis, David Miller or Chris Morris.
Also Read: Purse available with each franchise for IPL 2020 Auction
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