Founded in 2008, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are a two-time winners of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The last season of the IPL saw KKR finishing seventh at the points table after having won six and losing eight out of their allotted 14 group league matches. At this year’s mini-auction, the franchise did some serious business as they bought India pacer, Shardul Thakur from Delhi Capital (DC), New Zealand speedster, Lockie Ferguson, and, Afghanistan wicket-keeping-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz from Gujarat Titans (GT). IPL 2023 Schedule, Free PDF Download Online: Get Fixtures, Time Table With Match Timings in IST and Venue Details of Indian Premier League Season 16.

At the auction, initially, they acquired talented batsman, Narayan Jagadeesan at a massive Rs 90 lakhs, and, then they followed it up with another acquisition – domestic cricketer Vaibhav Arora at Rs 60 Lakhs before securing Suyash Sharma at Rs 20 lakhs.

The former champions got another buy in the form of all-rounder David Wiese at a jaw-dropping price of Rs 1 crore. They also went after three veteran players – Bangladesh’s seasoned cricketers Shakib Al Hasan (Rs 1.5 crore), Litton Das (Rs 50 lakhs) and Mandeep Singh (Rs 50 lakhs). On Which TV Channel IPL 2023 Will Be Telecast Live? How to Watch Indian Premier League T20 Cricket Matches Free Live Streaming Online?

However, they released majority of the players such as Australia’s Pat Cummins, England’s Sam Billings, and, other players like Ashok Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Aaron Finch, Mohammad Nabi, Abhijeet Tomar, Sheldon Jackson, Baba Indrajith, Alex Hales, Chamika Karunaratne, Aman Khan, Ramesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Pratham Singh, and, Rasikh Salam. Having released majority of their players, they have compensated that with the acquisition of above mentioned players and thus are looking like a challenging side. IPL 2023 Rule Change: Captains To Have Two Team Sheets, Name Playing XI After Toss.

Strength

This year, KKR have invested a lot in the bowling department as they acquired bowler Lockie Ferguson and Shardul Thakur.

Weakness

Having released players in the likes of Aaron Finch, Sam Billings, and, Mohammad Nabi, their batting department looks a bit fragile. But they have balanced it with the acquisition of Bangladesh veterans (Litton Das and Shakib Al Hasan), Afghanistan wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Narayan Jagadeesan. However, KKR might have to name a new captain as their regular captain and Indian batter, Shreyas Iyer, is reportedly set to miss the upcoming IPL as he is likely to undergo a surgery for his back injury, and, hence, his absence may hamper KKR's IPL campaign.

KKR IPL 2023 Schedule

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) open their IPL campaign against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on April 1, 2023. You can check KKR's IPL 2023 full schedule below.

KKR IPL 2023 Squad

Nitish Rana (c), Vaibhav Arora, Lockie Ferguson, Harshit Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, N Jagadeesan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Litton Das, Mandeep Singh, Sunil Narine, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Shakib Al Hasan, Rinku Singh, Tim Southee, Suyash Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, David Wiese, Umesh Yadav, Shreyas Iyer (subject to fitness).

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 30, 2023 12:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).