IPL Auction 2022: Late show helps Kolkata Knight Riders get house in order | Cricket News – Times of India

KOLKATA: He who laughs last laughs loudest. Kolkata Knight Riders lived up to the saying by setting up their house quite nicely in a late flourish at the IPL player’s auction in Bengaluru on Sunday. At the end of two long days of bidding, the city-based franchise ended up building up a squad of 25 players that includes eight foreigners.
The team management went about in a strategic manner without going very big for any of the players, but at the same time ending up with a balanced side with at least one for all position. KKR entered the accelerated auction phase with the highest remaining purse and made full use of it to shape up their squad.
IPL AUCTION: AS IT HAPPENED
Interestingly the team formed a very good leadership group in Shreyas Iyer, Pat Cummins and Ajinkya Rahane, picking up the last mentioned on Sunday at his base price of Rs 1 crore. While it looks like KKR would opt for Rahane to open with retained player Venkatesh Iyer, getting England’s Alex Hales late in the day provides them with another good opening option.
The side’s wicket-keeping slot, which was a bit vulnerable with only Sheldon Jackson and Baba Indrajith, looks bright now with the acquisition of England’s Sam Billings. They also did well to pick New Zealand pacer Tim Southee, who can act as a back-up for Cummins, from the accelerated list.

They now have four good possible playing foreigners in Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Billings and Cummins.
Apart from that KKR fell back on their trusted hands bringing back Rinku Singh, Nitish Rana, Shivam Mavi and also Umesh Yadav and Southee. Yadav can pair up well with Mavi as the side’s domestic pace attack, which will be led by Cummins.
Keeping in mind that auctions are not likely to be held in the coming few years, the team think-tank decided to invest in youth and not-so-well-known domestic talent, bringing in players like Abhijit Tomar, Pratham Singh, Rasikh Dar, Ashok Sharma and Aman Hakim Khan.
On paper the side’s first XI looks pretty balanced, but it remains to be seen how well the back-up players perform when required.

KKR SQUAD
Strength: 25 (17 Indians, 8 overseas)
Retentions: Andre Russell (Rs 12 cr), Varun Chakravarthy (Rs 8 cr), Venkatesh Iyer (Rs 8 cr), Sunil Narine (Rs 6 cr)
Auction picks: Batters: Shreyas Iyer (Rs 12.25 cr), Ajinkya Rahane (Rs 1 cr), Rinku Singh (Rs 50 lakh), Abhijit Tomar (Rs 40 lakh), Pratham Singh (Rs 20 lakh), Ramesh Kumar (Rs 20 lakh), Sam Billings (Rs 2 cr)
Wicketkeepers: Sheldon Jackson (Rs 60 lakh), Baba Indrajith (Rs 20 lakh), Alex Hales (Rs 1.50 cr)
Bowlers: Rasikh Dar (Rs 20 lakh), Ashok Sharma (Rs 55 lakh), Tim Southee (Rs1.5 cr), Umesh Yadav (Rs 2 Cr)
All-rounders: Pat Cummins (Rs 7.25 Cr), Nitish Rana (Rs 8 Cr), Shivam Mavi (Rs 7.25 Cr), Anukul Roy (Rs 20 lakh), Chamika Karunaratne (Rs 50 lakh), Mohammed Nabi (Rs 1 cr), Aman Hakim Khan (Rs 20 lakh)