Kolkata Knight Riders have plenty of spin options in the squad for IPL 2024 and will hope their home pitches assist the spinners.
Former India opener Aakash Chopra has given his opinion on Kolkata Knight Riders’ potential chances and their team combination ahead of IPL 2024. With less than a week remaining for IPL 2024 to begin, the preparations of every team are in its final rounds. The teams look strong and it is expected to be a close competition this time around.
Talking about KKR, the squad looks well settled with almost all the bases covered. Their strength is their spin department which has three mystery spinners in the form of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Youngster Suyash Sharma, who was impressive in his debut season last year, will complement them while all-rounder Anukul Roy also gives them an option with left-arm spin.
With a total of five spinners in the squad, KKR will expect their home pitches to offer turn for their spinners. The pitch at Eden Gardens offered turn during the 2023 ODI World Cup. KKR will hope for a similar pitch in IPL 2024 as well.
While speaking on a video shared on his YouTube channel, renowned commentator and YouTuber Aakash Chopra opined that if the pitch at Eden Gardens is not turning, it might go against the Knight Riders which could become their weakness.
“The second thing is that if Eden Gardens doesn’t have pitches that suit them, it could become a potential weakness. If the home pitches are not turning and are favorable for fast bowling, it will go against them,” Chopra said.
He went on to say that if the pitches do not favour Knight Riders, their mentor Gautam Gambhir will be disappointed as well and it could be a potential setback.
“It happened last year with Lucknow. Gautam (Gambhir) was also there. If the same thing happens here, then he will be very disappointed. That could be a potential setback if that happens. Eden Gardens guys – prepare a turning pitch,” Chopra added.
Aakash Chopra also presented views on KKR’s fast bowling line-up this season. He believed that the team could be over-depended on their latest recruit Mitchell Starc.
“They have bought Mitchell Starc for such a huge price. So they will play him for sure. When you make their XI, you will have an overseas opener, and then Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, which means you can play an overseas fast bowler,” Chopra explained.
“You will not play Dushmantha Chameera there. You are going to play Mitchell Starc for sure. Why else would you have paid him close to 25 crores? However, there could be an over-dependence on Mitchell Starc,” he opined.
KKR’s bowling line-up is mainly built around their spinners and Mitchell Starc. They have Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora as Indian fast bowlers in the squad. Mitchell Starc was signed for a record INR 24.75 crore in IPL 2024 auction.
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Kolkata Knight Riders will begin its IPL campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 23 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. They will be led by Shreyas Iyer. KKR will be aiming for their third IPL title this season.
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