IPL is set to resume from May 17th. This time we can expect a lot of changes in the points table due to the availability of foreign players.
Teams at the top of the table like Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Titans, and Royal Challengers Bangalore might get affected because of the unavailability of their foreign players.
Kolkata Knight Riders might have an edge at this time because of the availability of their two prime foreign players, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell.
KKR’s Playoff chances
KKR is currently at the 6th position in the points table with 11 points in 12 matches. They have 2 games left now.
KKR vs RCB on May 17th at Bangalore
KKR vs SRH on May 25th at Delhi
RCB are in great form in this season, but they are one of the teams which is likely to get affected because of the availability of their foreign players. There is a chance that all their prime foreign players, Josh Hazlewood, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, and Lungi Ngidi, might not be available. This will affect their team combination as KKR’s next match is on 17th May 2025 at Bengaluru.
KKR can use it to their advantage to clinch the victory against them. KKR’s last league match is against SRH, who are not in great form ,this year. So, KKR have two good games ahead and if they utilise it to their best, they can can have a chance to qualify for the playoffs with 15 points and a good net run rate.
KKR’s overseas players
KKR’s key overseas players, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, are likely to be available. The KKR core team is built around these two Caribbean legends.
Their other overseas players, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Quinton de Kock, Spencer Johnson, and Anrich Nortje, don’t have international commitments currently. So they might also likely to be available. Moeen Ali may not be available. There is no official update on that yet.
Rowman Powell might also miss due to the England vs WI ODI series.
Indian Core
The biggest strength of KKR is that they have built a strong Indian core. They have Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Venkatesh Iyer and Manish Pandey in the batting.
In Bowling, they have Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora and Anukul Roy. With this strong Indian core they might give tough challenge to other teams who will lack combinations in the absence of their foreign players.
Let’s wait and see if the defending champions can pull a miracle to defend their title.
Also Read:Â IPL 2025: Punjab Kings Eye Top 2 Amid Venue Shifts