IPL 2023: Will KKR pay the price for flawed auction approach?

However, stung by injuries and the unavailability of key players, the Knight Riders will have an uphill task when they take on a red-hot Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday at the Eden Gardens.

Jab 𝘒𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 met 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴! 💜♥️#AmiKKR #TATAIPL2023 pic.twitter.com/38Cr6sjyVV

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 5, 2023

In their first match, KKR lost to PBKS by seven runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method. Then came the news of Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan pulling out of the tournament and regular skipper Shreyas Iyer being ruled out of the entire IPL. Apart from these two, everyone else is fine and available, confirmed head coach Chandrakant Pandit a day before the match.

Pandit also backed the team to bounce back and do well. “I would not say that experience is lacking. Every individual has created an impact on the domestic and International levels. They are all reputed cricketers. I believe every player is capable of playing well. We are not depending on one player. Whatever squad we have, each one of them is good enough to give a good impact.”

“One cannot be judgmental after just the first game. Looking at the last game, we were in the game till the end. That was unfortunate to lose. I’m pretty confident of the side we have,” he added.

But the current KKR team does look weak on paper, especially with the absence of Iyer, which has made the batting seem wobbly while in the bowling department, the likes of Tim Southee and Sunil Narine look past their prime. The three-pronged pace attack of Umesh Yadav, Lockie Ferguson and Shardul Thakur also do not inspire confidence.

Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 82 and Faf du Plessis’ 73 helped Royal Challengers Bangalore register a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Mumbai Indians here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Sunday to start their IPL 2023 season with a victory. (PTI Photo/Shailendra Bhojak)

But if KKR looks thin on paper, one needs to recall their flawed auction strategy where they went wrong from the word go, and could have been better with their retention. For a franchise which talks of backing young talent, letting go of the prodigious Shubman Gill was a big mistake and then they were unable to replace him with an equally talented opener.

Another approach that could have been better was spending wisely at the auction table instead of spending big on retention. For example, Nitish Rana has a contract of 8 crores, but his inconsistent performances do not justify the amount. Another acquisition, Shardul Thakur, has a contract of 10.75 crores, but looking at his stats raises questions if he is worth it. Thakur has a career economy rate of 9.06 in the IPL, with the highest score of 29.

There are rumours that KKR owner Shah Rukh Khan will be in the stadium as the Knights return home after nearly 1,430 days. But will he be able to inspire the purple brigade to victory?

For KKR to do well their entire playing eleven needs everything to go their way in each and every game of this season. Only time will tell if that is possible.

Key Matchups:
One key matchup will be Sunil Narine vs Virat Kohli. Age may not be on the side of the West Indian but Narine is vastly experienced with 153 wickets in the IPL, including 21 versus RCB. Narine has also dismissed Virat Kohli 3 times across 13 IPL innings. Another contest will be Harshal Patel, who is effective in the death overs, against Andre Russell. Patel has done well against Russell, claiming his wicket twice.

Head-to-Head Record:
The historical head-to-head record between KKR and RCB stands at 16 [KKR wins] – 14 [RCB wins]. But in their last encounter in IPL 2022, it was RCB who emerged victorious by a margin of 3 wickets. This time too, they seem favourites with a strong batting line-up and a powerful pace attack on a seamer friendly Eden.

SQUADS:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Nitish Rana (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, N. Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Litton Das and Mandeep Singh.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Suyash Prabhudessai, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, Finn Allen, Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, David Willey, Karn Sharma, Mahipal Lomror, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood, Siddarth  Kaul, Akash Deep, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma and Michael Bracewell.