IPL 2023: Kolkata Knight Riders sweat over captaincy conundrum amid Shreyas Iyer’s injury concerns

IPL 2023: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014, but they are yet to win a championship since then. Can the Men in Gold and Purple turn their fortunes around?

IPL 2023: KKR sweat over captaincy conundrum amid Shreyas Iyer’s injury concerns. Courtesy: PTI

By Sabyasachi Chowdhury: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) happens to be the third-most successful team in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Back in 2012 Gautam Gambhir turned the fortunes of the team. But after 2017, when he left the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, the Men in Gold and Purple have struggled somewhat.

Dinesh Karthik failed to deliver, after which Eoin Morgan led them to the final in 2021. But then again in 2022, KKR failed to make their way through to the playoffs. The team has shown a lot of faith in players like Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, who have both been integral members of the team for quite some time.

After Gambhir helped them win the IPL in 2012 and 2014, KKR started carving an identity. It’s time that the team resurrects it. The journey in 2023 isn’t going to be easy as they have quite a few reasons to worry about.

Most expensive players of the current season

Shreyas Iyer is the most expensive player of the current season. Prior to the auction for the 2023 edition, he was retained at a price of INR 12.25 crore. Andre Russell, who has been with the franchise since 2014, was retained at INR 12 crore.

Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana and Varun Chakravarthy were retained for INR 8 crore each. In the auction that took place in December, the Knights spent the most on Bangladesh T20I skipper Shakib Al Hasan (INR 1.50 crore) and Namibian all-rounder David Wiese (INR 1 crore).

Main Strengths or weaknesses

Shreyas Iyer is currently recovering from a back injury and it’s highly likely that he won’t take part in the first half of the IPL, at least. If Iyer doesn’t play, the skipper KKR picks remains to be seen. Sunil Narine recently captained the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders (KKR) in the ILT20 2023, but his team finished at the bottom of the table.

Shakib Al Hasan is the only accomplished skipper in the team, having recently led Bangladesh to a 3-0 series win over Jos Buttler’s England. But over the years, the Magura-born Shakib hasn’t been a regular part of whichever IPL team he has represented.

Moreover, if Shakib is named as the captain, the Knights can rotate between only three overseas players. Nitish Rana has captained Delhi at the domestic level and is one of the captaincy options.

Adding to KKR’s concerns is the injury to Lockie Ferguson, who was traded from the Gujarat Titans. The New Zealand speedster has been ruled out of the first ODI against Sri Lanka due to a hamstring injury.

The Knights also have a number of strengths. Rahmanullah Gurbaz is one of the cleanest strikers of the ball. If Gurbaz doesn’t play, KKR have a potent back-up in Litton Das, who has arguably been the standout batter for Bangladesh across formats.

David Wiese, Andre Russell and Shakib Al Hasan need no introduction as they are three of the most potent all-rounders in the T20 circuit.

Team Fixtures in IPL 2023

KKR full squad for IPL 2023

Retained Players

Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh, Shardul Thakur (T), Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Lockie Ferguson (T), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (T), Sunil Narine, Tim Southee

Bought at an auction

Narayan Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Wiese, Shakib Al Hasan, Mandeep Singh, Kulwant Khejroliya, Litton Das