Abu Dhabi: Only three franchises who have won the IPL title more than once, and Kolkata Knight Riders are one of them. There is no doubt that two times champions KKR are highly popular franchises in the IPL co-owned by ‘Badshah of Bollywood’ Shahrukh Khan. In fact, KKR was the first team that made the first bubbling headline when Brendon McCullum knocked 158 in the very first IPL match played in 2008. KKR has been one of the strong contenders for the title since season one and there are a lot of possibilities for KKR to be this season’s title owner.
This year, the Knight Riders have only one chant and one salute, and it’s all about you.
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) September 9, 2020
Tu jaan le tu kaun hai, #TuFanNahiToofanHai#KKR #HaiTaiyaar #Dream11IPL pic.twitter.com/9cfFAVrY4P
Strengths: The way KKR started to deal with the last player auction in December last, proved that the squad is ready to create more balance and the team looks like a mean fighting machine.
Previous records: In the first final in 2012, KKR defeated Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 5 wickets in the final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. In 2014, KKR faced Kings XI Punjab in the final and won the match in Bengaluru. Added to this, KKR have finished in the playoffs of the tournament four times.
Star recruitment: World Cup-winning England skipper Eoin Morgan and Australian pacer Pat Cummins are the most expensive buys of KKR in the last auction, who can swing the pace KKR’s way single-handedly.
Potential pace attack: An attack of Andre Russell, Lockie Ferguson, Cummins, Prasidh Krishna can be a clutch when they get to find their rhythm.
Calm and efficient captain: Dinesh Karthik, who is very efficient in T20 batsman and wicketkeeper, is highly underrated. But his captaincy for KKR is one of the positives for the squad.
Spin factor: The slow pitches in the UAE will provide an advantage to the KKR spinners. The likes of Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, M.Siddharth, Rinku Singh will play a vital role and give the captain diverse spinning options.
Big hitters: KKR have a huge list of big hitters in their team including Russell, Morgan, Nitish Rana, Karthik, Rinku who can shift gears fast when needed. An outstanding England-based opener Tom Banton joined the side of KKR and increased the strength.
Brendon McCullum as coach: One of the positives for KKR are having Brendon McCullum as their head coach, who is aggressive in his mindset but calm on the outside.
Possibilities: KKR are a fine combination of experience and youth who can perform well at crucial situations. They have players like Pat Cummins as the pace spread head, Kuldeep Yadav, who is a proven game-winner, Karthik and Morgan, who can put their international experience to great use. But the thing that can make difference in winning or losing will be how they use Andre Russell in the batting order.
Full squad : Dinesh Karthik (C), Eoin Morgan, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Rinku Singh, Shubman Gill, Siddhesh Lad, Tom Banton, Ali Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Manimaran Siddharth, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Sunil Narine, Nikhil Naik.
