IPL 2019 auction: Fast bowlers and specialist batsmen likely to be on KKR’s shopping list

Note: This article was originally published when the player retention list was announced.

Kolkata Knight Riders had accumulated the smallest squad out of all Indian Premier League teams after the last player auction, with just 19 players out of a maximum limit of 25. They did add two more players to their roster after that and ended up coming third in the league and qualifying for the playoffs.

While that’s not the worst of results, KKR have made their intentions clear by letting go eight players out of the 21 they had on their roster before the 2019 season’s auction. These include five bowlers and three batsmen.

As a result, KKR can shop for as many as 12 players if they want to in December’s auction. Five of the 12 can be overseas players. But franchise will have a salary cap of Rs 15.2 crore, which could make the task of filling up their roster a difficult ask if they opt for even one big money purchase.

KKR have retained a core group of 13 players, including captain Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Sunil Narine, Andre Russel, and Kuldeep Yadav.

Retention details / remaining purse:

Retained: Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna.

Released: Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, Tom Curran, Cameron Delport, Javon Searles, Ishank Jaggi, Apoorv Wankhade, Vinay Kumar.

Traded in: None.

Salary cap available: Rs 15.20 crore.

Slots available: Indian – 7, Overseas – 5

Strengths

KKR had, at least on paper, one of the strongest bowling units in the league ahead of last season, with Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawala and the two Under-19 pacers Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nagarkoti. Medium pacer Prasidh Krishna turned out to be kind of a surprise package, taking 10 wicket in seven matches.

KKR have since released both Australian pacers, which still leaves them with quite a good bowling attack, if you add all-rounders Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Nitish Rana. With a good mix of fast bowlers and spinners, their bowling line-up is still their strength but...

Weaknesses

Numbers. Nagarkoti missed an entire season due to injury, Russell is not the fittest players around anymore, Mavi is too raw. That pace attack is in serious need of reinforcement.

Like last season, KKR’s batting is a cause of worry. They’ve got four specialist batsmen plus wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik, but apart from him and maybe Chris Lynn there is no one whom the team can rely on. Robin Uthappa blows hot and cold, while Shubman Gill is still too young to carry the batting through (although he should play a more prominent role this season). KKR have relied on all-rounders Narine, Russell and Rana to help them out with the bat.

Players to look out for in auction

Considering KKR released both the Australian Mitchells, along with Tom Curran, Javon Searles and Vinay Kumar, they would definitely be looking for a couple of fast bowlers at least. The Eden pitch has assistance for pacers too, mind you. They’ve got plenty of options to choose from, mostly foreign, among the players who were released by other teams:

Mustafizur Rahman, Pat Cummins, Mark Wood, Barinder Sran, Mohit Sharma, Chris Jordan, Chris Woakes, Corey Anderson, Mohammad Shami, Dan Christian, Liam Plunkett, Jaydev Unadkat, Ben Laughlin are the names KKR could choose from. Expect a big bid for the first name in that list while Cummins could return to his old franchise as well.

KKR would also be looking for a couple of specialist batsmen. The following options seem the most obvious among the released players: Aaron Finch, Yuvraj Singh, Manoj Tiwary, Alex Hales, Brendon McCullum, Sarfraz Khan, Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy.

Will KKR go for Gambhir again? Now that would be quite something, wouldn’t it?