Kolkata Knight Riders face tough questions in Shreyas Iyer’s absence

Where Kolkata Knight Riders finished in IPL 2022

Seventh, with six wins and eight losses.

Kolkata Knight Riders squad for IPL 2023

Venkatesh Iyer, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer (injured), Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Mandeep Singh, N Jagadeesan, Litton Das, Andre Russell, Anukul Roy, David Wiese, Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Suyash Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Umesh Yadav, Vaibhav Arora, Kulwant Khejroliya.

Player availability – Shreyas doubtful, Shakib and Litton could be late

The Knight Riders are without their regular captain because Shreyas Iyer is out due to a recurrent lower-back issue and there is no set return date as of yet. Nitish Rana has been asked to step in on a temporary basis. There is a slim chance that Shreyas could return in the second half of the season.

Shakib and Litton might not be available for the Knight Riders’ season-opening match on April 1. Both are included in Bangladesh’s lineup for the final three Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) against Ireland on March 31. Litton could miss a few more games because he will arrive in India only after Bangladesh’s one-off Test against Ireland, which runs from April 4 to 8.
What’s new with KKR this year?

Brendon McCullum is no longer their coach, having gone to a permanent role with the England men’s Test side, and Knight Riders have brought in experienced Indian hands – Chandrakant Pandit (head coach) and Bharat Arun (bowling coach). Their fielding coach is Ryan ten Doeschate.

Additionally active in the offseason, they acquired Gurbaz and Lockie Ferguson from the Gujarat Titans as well as Shardul Thakur and Gurbaz from the Delhi Capitals. That left them with a small purse of INR 7.05 crore at the IPL auction, where six of their eight new picks were base-price purchases. They signed Jagadeesan, Vaibhav, Mandeep, Suyash Sharma, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Shakib and Litton.

The better: Is a new era upon us?

Andre Russell finally has an overseas back-up in Wiese, useful for the side since the West Indian needs workload management if the team needs him at 100% fitness. Their wicketkeeping options are more attractive than their 2022 squad, which included Sheldon Jackson, B Indrajith and Sam Billings. Thakur strengthens the bowling and batting, while their new coaching staff and interim captain could come with a hard reset after a disappointing IPL 2022.

The not-so-good – the uncertainties

Shreyas’ injury means Knight Riders are without their best Indian batter. Venkatesh and Chakravarthy are both out of favour from a national-selection point of view and their stocks have dropped significantly since they were retained by the franchise two seasons ago. No one makes a compelling case to be a lock for the XI, with the exception of Thakur, Rana, and the two overseas West Indians.

Schedule insights

Knight Riders play Mumbai Indians only once. This may come as a relief, since they have a 9-22 record against Mumbai. Knight Riders also play Lucknow Super Giants, Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals once each.

The side has a packed schedule in late April, when they are set to play four games in a ten-day period between April 20 and April 29, with two home games as well as away matches in Delhi and Bengaluru.