IPL 2018: 5 big concerns for Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the IPL

Kolkata Knight Riders have been the ill-fated team this year. The team used most of their budget on a handful of players and the availability of most of these players is still in doubt. The team has already been facing the problem of being short on players having only 19 players in their squad.

Choosing a captain to lead the side turned out to be a nightmare for them when they realized that they don't have a player who has international captaincy experience. The team finally zeroed upon Dinesh Karthik who will lead the side in the upcoming season.

The team has already been criticized for their team building strategies and it will be interesting to see how they deal with the various hardships they have been facing in the previous months.

Here are few areas of concern for the team ahead of the tournament.

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#5 Injury to key players

Kolkata Knight Riders have been the unluckiest teams this season because of the injuries to its key players all of whom are their foreign recruits. Australian power hitter Chris Lynn, West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell and Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson were all down due to injuries in the recent month.

Although according to the recent reports it is learned that Russell and Lynn will recover in time before the first match of Kolkata Knight Riders, still the two players remain injury prone and must be given some more time for proper recovery. The availability of Mitchell Johnson who suffered a head injury earlier this month is still unclear.

Chris Lynn has been carrying his shoulder problem for quite long now and his availability for the whole tournament will definitely be a point to ponder upon. Also, Andre Russell must be given some more time to recover from his hamstring injury before he is drafted into the playing XI.

#4 Sunil Narine reported action

Sunil Narine, the West Indies mystery spinner has been one of the mainstays in the Kolkata Knight Riders team for many years now. Narine was retained by the Kolkata franchise ahead of Chris Lynn mainly due to his previous year's performances where he was successful as a pinch-hitter for the team.

Narine who is currently playing for Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League was reported for his suspect bowling action. His reports have been sent to the Cricket West Indies who will take the necessary steps after reviewing the reports.

This is not the first time that his bowling action has been reported. Narine pulled out of the World Cup 2015 squad owing to the same issue and returned playing in the IPL later that year only after he remodeled his bowling action.

With the Indian Premier League approaching, Kolkata Knight Riders must be keeping a close eye on the bowlers' developments.

#3 Andre Russell's return after ban

Andre Russell, the West Indian hard-hitting all-rounder has been one of the most effective T20 players in the world. Russell has proved to be a match-winner both with the bat and the ball. Kolkata Knight Riders had retained him earlier this year ahead of the auction overseeing his performances for the team in the past.

He was out of professional cricket for close to a year after he was banned due to the violation of whereabouts clause under anti-doping rules by World Anti-Doping Agency. He returned to the cricket playing for Jamaica in the domestic where he played some crucial knocks for his team. His performance in the Pakistan Super League before he got injured was not much impressive.

He has not got enough time to practice after returning to cricket after serving the ban and this may be a big area of concern for the franchise. Kolkata Knight Riders have put a big bet on the all-rounder and it will be interesting to see how he fares in the upcoming season.

#2 An incomplete team

Kolkata Knight Riders were the only team in the auction who used their whole budget yet could manage to buy just 17 players. Adding the two players who were retained before the auction their total sums up to 19 which is far less than what other teams have in their squad.

With only 19 players in the squad, the Kolkata team may be in big trouble as they don't have many options for experimenting in the tournament.

The team invested most of their money in buying a handful of big names and many of these players' availability in the tournament is still in doubt. Moreover, most of the players in the Kolkata Knight Riders are young and does not have much experience.

The team has already been criticized by the fans and the cricket pundits for its auction strategies and it will be interesting to see how the team uses its limited resources during the tournament.

#1 An inexperienced captain

Kolkata Knight Riders had a big headache in choosing the captain for their side. After Gautam Gambhir shifted over to Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata had to choose a potent player that can lead the team in the coming years, but none of the players had captaincy experience of the highest level.

Although Robin Uthappa was the front-runner for the captains' job the team management surprised everyone when Dinesh Karthik was chosen to lead the side. Karthik leads Tuti Patriots in the TNPL still he does not have enough A-level captaincy experience under his belt. In the IPL he has led Delhi Daredevils in 6 matches out of which his team won only 2.

It will be interesting to see how the newly appointed skipper uses the young players and lives up to the expectations of the fans.