IPL2018: 5 players Kolkata Knight Riders should look to retain

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It’s time for us to look at Kolkata Knight Riders, a franchise that is always in the limelight. Ever since the inception of the Indian Premier League, it has been the most talked about team mostly because of its owner Shah Rukh Khan, the superstar of Bollywood. Just like King Khan, his team has always been the most glamorous.

Even though the franchise remains in the headlines but it wasn’t the strongest side on the field initially and the performances lifted from the 2012 edition when they lifted the title for the first time. Since then, KKR have been a formidable team and the one that learned to stay in the top half of the table.

The auction for the next season is just a few days away and it’s time for the team management to act upon the regulations put forth by the governing committee. The teams have been allowed to retain a maximum of 5 players including the Right to Match card. KKR do have a great bunch of players to select from for retention.

Here are the 5 players Kolkata Knight Riders should look to retain

#1 Gautam Gambhir

The fortunes of KKR took a drastic turn in the year 2011 when Gautam Gambhir was picked in the side and was handed over the captaincy. The team that was languishing at the bottom in the previous 3 seasons, managed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time and then went on to win their maiden title in 2012. The side led by Gambhir once again became the champions in the year 2014.

The identity of KKR is associated now with the presence of the left-hander. He may not be a part of the Indian side anymore but he is still a premier contributor with the bat for the IPL franchise. In the last edition, he amassed 498 runs in 16 matches at an average of 41.5 and finished as the second highest run-getter only behind David Warner. Overall, he has scored 4133 runs in 148 IPL games at 31.55 that included 35 half-centuries.

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