After discussing about the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings, it is not time for us to talk about the third most successful team in IPL history which is the Kolkata Knight Riders who have won 2 IPL titles and in this mega auction just like the two other teams that we talked about before, they also had 48 crores in their kitty as they had retained Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer and Sunil Narine and they got 4 quality players in them.
Kolkata Knight Riders needed a good batting line-up and a good bowling attack in the mega auction so their task was cut out and they were struggling for a major part of the auction but their ending was great so in the end they have a very good team that can again reach the final of the IPL like last year and maybe do one better this time. So let’s see their auction strategy and do a team analysis.
Auction Strategy :
KKR had a clear auction strategy that they wanted to build a team which will be with them for years to come so they wanted some of their old players back and sine fresh blood into the unit. Their start was incredible as they got Pat Cummins and Shreyas Iyer from the marquee set and got a captain in Shreyas as well but they paid way more for Nitish Rana than they should have and that hampered then a lot but they finished strong at the end of two days and just buying their time and got great players like Sam Billings, Alex Hales, Mohammad Nabi and Umesh Yadav. So it can be said that their auction was a success in the end.
Team Analysis :
KKR also have formed a very good team and a core that can win any cricket match as they have a good batting order and a good bowling attack but there are some holes as well which we will talk about a little later. Let’s do a SWOT analysis of KKR now.
Also Read | Top 5 expensive players in IPL 2022
Strengths:
They have a lot of strengths in their team and unlike Mumbai and CSK their bowling attack is better than the both of them and one of the best in the tournament. They have got a great young captain in Shreyas Iyer who can lead them for many years to come and also bat and score a lot of runs. They got Pat Cummins back in the team and a good opening batter in Alex Hales which will help them greatly. They have a lot of bowling options so teams will fear their bowling attack.
Weaknesses:
The fitness of Andre Russell is their biggest weakness as if he is not fit their team struggles a lot in the end and their Indian batting order is not that great if one excludes Shreyas Iyer, they only have Nitish Rana , Rinku Singh,etc so they need to sort out their Indian players and Shivam Mavi should not have been paid so much.
Opportunities:
KKR did something last year that no one expected then to do which is to reach the final of the IPL and they have a better team this year than last year so they will be raring to go and win it thus time and players such as Sheldon Jackson, Chamika Karunaratne, Anukul Roy van prove to be great buys at bargain prices going forward.
Threat:
The biggest threat to their success is themselves as they sometimes take decisions that are inexplicable and they damage their team as well and the other teams will look at their Indian players and feel like they can target them and get an upper hand so that threat Is also there.
