1. Purse available
The Kolkata Knight Riders have Rs 35.65 crore in their account, the second biggest purse after Kings XI Punjab's Rs 42.70 crore. And that makes them a major player in the auction room and can bid for players under their radar stonger than their rivals.
2. Slots to be filled
The Knight Riders have 11 places, including 4 overseas players, to paper over. With a rather hefty purse to open, the Kolkata team could meet their target without breaking much sweat.
3. Players may be bought
They have released the big-hitting Chris Lynn and could try to buy back the opener from the auction at a lesser price. Evin Lewis too could find himself amidst discussion inside the Kolkata camp. David Miller and Sam Curran too might find some interest from the KKR. They may also have some interest in Yuvraj Singh, more as a back-up option since they released Robin Uthappa, Rahul Tripathi, Jalaj Saxena, the young Manjot Kalra, who had made hundred in the ICC U-19 WC final, Deepak Hooda, Pankaj Jaswal etc.
4. The team set-up
Dinesh Karthik went through a modest IPL 2019 as a batsman and captain. He has been retained and may be a front-runner for captiancy this season too. But the KKR management might think of handing over captaincy to someone like Shubman Gill, much like Delhi Capitals made Shreyas Iyer the captain. Otherwise, you will see the likes of Andre Russel, Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav etc in the purple jersey.