Strengths
A gunn top and middle-order. If all are fit, KKR’ top six could look like this: Sunil Narine/ Rahul Tripathi, Shubmam Gill, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell. It has destruction written all over it and on their day, they can put really tall scores on the board.
Bowling will be led by Pat Cummins, who will hope the game time in England, will prove useful in the UAE.
Weaknesses
Death bowling. KKR, last season, used Prasidh Krishna and it seemed like he’d done enough to get a mention from Virat Kohli at a post match presentation earlier this year.
But with the likes of Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and others taking the load with Krishna, KKR must hope they gamble of using inexperience at the end pays off else they could be chasing serious leather in the UAE.
Opportunities
Unless something dramatic happens, Gill will open the batting for KKR. Two years after winning the Player of the tournament award at the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, Gill’s career saw an upward curve last year when he scored runs consistently for Punjab.
A good IPL for him will further assert his position as the next big superstar to emerge out of Indian cricket.
The tournament also presents Kuldeep Yadav with a chance to once again among India’s premier spinners. He had an ordinary 2019 IPL with the ball, but with the pitches likely to be on the slower side in the UAE, he will look to get his rhythm back in this year’s competition.
Threats
KKR’s main worry is how do they keep Andre Russell fit for a large duration of the tournament. If fully fit, the Jamaican can win matches on his own, but staying in prime fitness has been a concern and KKR will need to find a way to sort that early.
Also what happens if Morgan sustains an injury? Who is their middle-order player? Will Tom Banton be their opening backup or their middle-order backup?
What happens if something happens to Cummins? Then one is staring at an almost Indian bowling line-up. There are a few questions, leading into the first game, the answers to which they have hopefully found out.
