The 10-team IPL 2023 is almost here and it kicks off with defending champions Gujarat Giants (GT) taking on 4-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on March 31 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Each of the 10 teams have added and removed a few stars and that makes the 16th edition even more exciting. Kane Williamson, who was leading Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) would play for GT under Hardik Pandya. Similarly, Manish Pandey will join his former SRH teammate David Warner at the Delhi Capitals. The dynamics have changed massively and it would become critical for all the teams to select a solid playing eleven to kick off their campaign on a cracking note.
In this article we will talk about the best possible eleven for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) who are in hunt to win their third IPL trophy. KKR captain Shreyas Iyer suffered a back injury once again during the fourth and final Test match against Australia in Ahmedabad. He did not bat in the match and is most likely to not feature in the following 3-match ODI series which kicks off from March 17. In case he is not fit on time, KKR will have the tough decision to appoint a new captain.
KKR Full squad: Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, 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, Mandeep Singh, Shakib Al Hasan.
KKR Predicted 11 - KKR best possible eleven
Venkatesh Iyer
Litton Das (wk)
Shreyas Iyer (c)
Nitish Rana
Andre Russell (c) (In case Iyer not available)
Shardul Thakur
Suil Narine
Anukul Roy
Rinku Singh/Mandeep Singh
Lockie Ferguson
Varun Chakravarthy
Strength: Abundance of bowling options. Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson both feature in the squad alongside Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, David Wiese, Shakib Al Hasan and Varun Chakravarthy, Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav.
Weakness: Not many recognised India batter in the squad. Venkatesh Iyer has been out of action for a long time due to injury. The last edition of the IPL saw him score just 182 runs at an average of 16.55. Nitish Rana have mainly restricted him to the IPL and have done things noticeable in the domestic circuit recently. In case, Iyer is also ruled out the Indian batting core of the team would fall completely.