Kolkata Knight Riders have announced their squad ahead of IPL Twenty20 thirteen season. KKR squad 2021 - the franchise has retained a number of key players from their previous team. Kolkata Knight Riders have eight new players in their lineup and 13 players retained from the last season. Dinesh Karthik is the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders and along with a number of best players are held by the franchise for the IPL 2021.
The franchise has retained Sunil Narayan, Andre Russell, Lockie Ferguson and Kuldeep Yadav from the IPL 2019 lineup. The team has purchased Tom Banton, Eoin Morgan and Pat Cummins for the 13th season of the Indian Premier League. KKR squad 2021 brought in Siddhesh Lad from Mumbai Indians squad as their player transfer agreement between franchises.
Kolkata Knight Riders have made the highest bid with the most expensive overseas player Pat Cummins for INR 15.5 crores. The franchise has bought Tom Banton for 1 crore who was the most demanded player in the IPL Twenty20 auction. The franchise made significant changes in their team line up from the last season by releasing ten players from IPL 2019.
Kolkata Knight Riders have released opening batsman Chris Lynn and all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite. KKR squad 2021 will miss their key player Robin Uthappa who had been the part of Squad for five years. Kolkata Knight Riders have brought in Rahul Tripathi, Chris green and Varun Chakravarthy as recruits in the squad.
The top-order batting line
Kolkata Knight Riders have six top-order batsmen including Eoin Morgan. Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, and Saddhesh Lad. With the inclusion of English skipper Morgan Kolkata Knight Riders team top order batting line has been strengthened. He made his first appearance in the Indian Premier League in 2010 for Royal Challengers Bangalore and later on he played for Sunrisers Hyderabad and KXIP.
KKR brought Gill Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, and Rinku Singh on top of the order. These young players have played a few matches in the Indian Premier League. They have proved their retention being helpful to the KKR squad with the bat and ball. Siddhesh Lad played the last season of the Indian Premier League for Mumbai Indians and will now make his first appearance for KKR in the IPL Twenty20.
Rinku Singh and Rahul Tripathi both are top-order batsmen brought by Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2021 auction. Both of them have brilliant stats in the IPL making their solid retention by the franchise for the upcoming season. Tripathi has earlier appeared in the IPL for Rising Pune Supergiants in the ninth edition of the tournament and the next year went for Rajasthan Royals.
All-rounders in Squad
Kolkata Knight Riders have four all-rounders in their squad including Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Chris Green. Andre Russell has been playing in the Indian Premier League Since his first appearance in the tournament in 2012. He has appeared for a number of franchises Before joining the KKR squad 2018. While playing for Kolkata Knight Riders he recorded his best batting innings of 88 runs.
Sunil Narine first appeared in the Indian Premier League for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012 and franchise kept him in the squad since his first season. Narine is a bowling all-rounder who has 110 games for Kolkata Knight Riders with his bat and ball. In the very first season of the Indian Premier League, he grabbed five wickets haul taking his team to the one-sided win.
Another all-rounder in the KKR squad 2021 Kamlesh Nagarkoti is a right-arm pacer. He didn’t make his appearance in the IPL for his severe injuries. Kolkata Knight Riders bought Australian all-rounder Chris green for the Indian Premier League Twenty20 season.
Wicket-Keeper Batsmen
Kolkata Knight Riders squad 2021 has three wicket-keeper batsmen including Tom Banton, Dinesh Karthik, and Nikhil Naik. Tom Banton is a sensational batsman who had fantastic stats in the T20 cricket making his the best choice for any team having in this lineup. The franchise bought him for 1 crores only.
Dinesh Karthik is the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders who has won several games for his franchise. Karthik is a right-handed wicket-keeper batsman who made his first appearance in the Indian Premier League for Delhi Daredevils in 2008. Under his leadership, the team went to the IPL semi-finals.
He has won a number of “Man of the Match” awards and has been included by Cricinfo and Cricbuzz in IPL XI in different years. The franchise has got Nikhil Naik as their third wicket-keeping option in the squad. Nikhil has made his debut in the Indian Premier League for Kings XI Punjab earlier his acquisition in the KKR squad 2021.
Bowling Unit
The franchise went for five pacers in their squad making their best bowling unit with the inclusion of world-renowned spin bowler Kuldeep Yadav. In their spin bowling unit, Kuldeep Yadav has a number of records on his name making his detention since his debut in the KKR squad. His boss best bowling figure in the IPL 4/20 making him the striker bowler in the lineup.
Kolkata Knight Riders have the most number of bowlers in their squad making their account to 10. The franchise has bought 3 overseas bowlers including the most expensive Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, and Harry Gurney. The bowling unit of a team is strong enough as compared to the franchises with the pace battery and spin bowling attack.
Kolkata Knight Riders have brought in Shivam Mavi who is a right-arm medium-fast bowler. Shivam appeared in 9 matches last year and conceded 270 runs the most expansive with 9.64 economies. The franchise has bought in Prasidh Krishna and Sandeep Warrier who got few chances of appearing in the IPL last year. Sandeep appeared in just three matches last season.
Kolkata Knight Riders have got three local leg-spin bowlers Chakravarti Pravin, Tambe, and Manimaran Siddharth. Varun Chakravarthy first appeared in the IPL 2019 for Kings XI Punjab, and now he is auctioned to KKR squad 2021. Manimaran Siddharth got the first chance to play in the Indian Premier League 2021. He could be a handy prospect in the middle over for his franchise.
Kolkata Knight Riders Team Player List
| KKR Squad 2020 | Playing Role | Year | IPL Salary (INR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nitish Rana | Batsman | 2018 | 3.4 Crores |
| Rinku Singh | Batsman | 2018 | 80 Lacs |
| Shubman Gill | Batsman | 2018 | 1.8 Crores |
| Eoin Morgan | Batsman | 2020 | 5.25 Crores |
| Siddhesh Lad | Batsman | 2020 | 20 Lacs |
| Rahul Tripathi | Batsman | 2020 | 60 Lacs |
| Andre Russell | All-rounder | 2018 | 7 Crores |
| Sunil Narine | All-rounder | 2018 | 8.5 Crores |
| Kamlesh Nagarkoti | All-rounder | 2018 | 3.2 Crores |
| Chris Green | All-rounder | 2020 | 20 Lacs |
| Dinesh Karthik | Wicket-Keeper | 2018 | 7.4 Crores |
| Tom Banton | Wicket-Keeper | 2020 | 1 Crores |
| Nikhil Naik | Wicket-Keeper | 2020 | 20 Lacs |
| Harry Gurney | Bowler | 2019 | 75 Lacs |
| Kuldeep Yadav | Bowler | 2018 | 5.8 Crores |
| Shivam Mavi | Bowler | 2018 | 3 Crores |
| Prasidh Krishna | Bowler | 2018 | 20 Lacs |
| Sandeep Warrier | Bowler | 2019 | 20 Lacs |
| Lockie Ferguson | Bowler | 2019 | 1.6 Crores |
| Pat Cummins | Bowler | 2020 | 15.5 Crores |
| Varun Chakravarthy | Bowler | 2020 | 4 Crores |
| Manimaran Siddharth | Bowler | 2020 | 20 Lacs |
| Pravin Tambe | Bowler | 2020 | 20 Lacs |
