Ultimate KKR Playing 11 for IPL 2024: In the first leg of IPL 2024, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will play three matches against SRH at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. They will be led by Shreyas Iyer, who missed IPL 2023 due to a shoulder injury.
KKR has made some changes to the original squad they gathered after the auction. Dusmantha Chameera and Phil Salt have taken Gus Atkinson’s and Jason Roy’s places on the team after they left. At a base price of 1.5 crores, Salt was acquired, while Chameera was acquired for 50 lakhs. These two players have bolstered the bowling and batting departments.
A few reports suggest that Shreyas Iyer might miss the first few games of the season after aggravating his back pain while playing in the Ranji Trophy semi-final and final.
Iyer scored 95 in the second innings of the final against Vidarbha and did not take the field on the last two days of the final. In a statement, Mumbai Team manager Bhushan Patil claimed that Iyer would join the Knight Riders for the IPL in 2024. The KKR management also expressed the same sentiment.
After the auction and the incoming replacements, KKR appears to have a well-rounded squad. In the first leg, they will need to put their best foot forward. The return of Gautam Gambhir as the mentor of KKR has further motivated the franchise. In two away games, KKR will play RCB on March 29 and DC on April 3.
Ultimate KKR Playing 11 for IPL 2024:
The following article predicts KKR’s probable playing XI for IPL 2024. Kolkata Knight Riders finished seventh last season in the points table.
Phil Salt (WK)
The number 2 ranked T20I batter scored two consecutive T20I centuries against the West Indies in December last year, replacing Jason Roy in KKR’s side.
Venkatesh Iyer
Salt should open the batting for KKR. He is the second KKR player after Brendon McCullum to score an IPL century. As an Indian batter, a lot depends on how he performs.
Shreyas Iyer (C)
There are still questions about whether Iyer will play the first few games, but he is an important cog in the Kolkata Knight Riders’ batting lineup. He is in good form heading into the IPL.
Nitish Rana
In Shreyas Iyer’s absence last season, Rana batted at four and scored over 400 runs. The trio of Iyer Rana and Rinku will be crucial to KKR’s success. Rinku has scored over 2000 runs for the team.
Rinku Singh
In IPL 2023, Rinku scored 474 runs, opening the game for his India debut. He has not looked back since then. It will be important for Kolkata to replicate his heroics from last season.
Andre Russell
He scored over 500 runs in IPL 20219, but his form with bat and ball has declined since then. Last season, Russell scored 227 runs with the bat and picked up just seven wickets with the ball. He will be looking for a big season this year.
Sunil Narine
KKR will hope that Narine finds his magic this season after taking over 150 wickets for the Knight Riders. His best season was in IPL 2021 where he took 16 wickets. He has just picked 20 wickets in the last two seasons.
Mitchell Starc
This is Mitchell Starc’s first IPL season since 2015. The Aussie pacer has picked up 34 wickets in 27 matches in IPL 2024 and 2015.
Harshit Rana
Delhi pacer was retained by the KKR management. He will be one of two Indian pacers in the line-up. He picked up five wickets last season, but his pace was what impressed everyone.
Chetan Sakariya
Sakariya has played in 19 IPL games and has also played in one ODI and two T20I for India. He picked up just three wickets from two matches last season.
Varun Chakravarthy
Varun will be KKR’s best bowler this season, picking up 20 wickets in 14 games at an average of 21.45. He will pair up with Narine at the other end.
Suyash Sharma
The Knight Riders used Suyash Sharma in that role efficiently last season. He picked up 10 wickets from 11 games.
