All eyes though will be on the mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy who was the leading wicket taker for KKR. Varun Chakaravarthy took 20 wickets in IPL 2023 edition and silenced all the critics. KKR fans would be hoping for a better performance by the side under the mentorship of Gautam Gambhir who has switched his team from Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to the 2 time IPL winner team.
KKR needs to sort out their batting department and perhaps may be promote Andre Russell up the order as the side already has the services of Rinku Singh who played the role of finisher quite brilliantly in the previous tournament. Andre Russell recently was seen in the Maroon and was in a beast mode against England & Australia.
KKR have an amazing bowler in Varun Chakaravarthy- Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra was seen speaking on his You Tube channel. Aakash Chopra stated that KKR have a scintillating spin bowling attack in the form of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy & Suyash Sharma. Aakash Chopra was quite confident that all the 3 spinners can be a part of the playing 11 for most of the matches.
“As soon as I think about spin, I don’t know why, but my mind goes towards Kolkata. Kolkata’s strategy will be to make spin-friendly pitches. They have Sunil Narine, who always plays in the XI. He is not a wicket-taker, it’s not that he takes four-wicket hauls, but he is always economical,” said Aakash Chopra.
“After that, they have an amazing bowler in Varun Chakaravarthy whose stature grew suddenly last year and he was absolutely stellar. Then they have Suyash Sharma. So these are three frontline spinners who will play in the XI for sure,” he added.
Steep Road ahead for KKR
KKR haven’t been able to dictate the terms despite big cricketers being a part of the side. We all witnessed how the franchise’s strategy to name a local head coach backfired; but still the owners & management have shown faith in him for IPL 2024. KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer will have to be smart with his combination as the surface at Eden Gardens is by no means an easy ground to defend the total.
It would be fascinating to see how the lethal left arm speedster Mitchell Starc fares who was the costliest player in the auction. With the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 around the corner, it won’t be a surprise if Starc doesn’t play the entire tournament which can be a concern for KKR.