IPL 2019: Five players KKR might release before the next season 

It was an eventful IPL season for Kolkata Knight Riders. Riding high on Andre Russell's incredible striking form, KKR began the season in a spectacular fashion winning 4 off its first 5 games. But the team lost its way in the middle phase of the tournament and ended the season at the 5th place on the points table.

One of the major reasons for the team's inconsistent performance in the season was the poor show by some big ticket players. Kuldeep Yadav was one of the biggest underperformers of the entire season. Also, things didn't seem to be okay in the KKR camp when Russell said that the team's environment isn't healthy.

Then we saw a Dinesh Karthik meltdown in the strategic timeout in KKR's penultimate game against Kings XI Punjab. With the team failing to make it to the playoffs, some changes in the squad are on the cards. Here are five players who might be dropped by KKR before next season.

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#5 Lockie Ferguson (Matches - 5, Wickets - 2, Economy - 10.76)

Ferguson was taken apart by the opposition batsmen (Picture courtesy: iplt20.com/BCCI)

In his short international career Lockie Ferguson has made a name for himself because of his ability to bowl with good speed. The Kiwi speedster also had IPL experience behind him as he had represented Rising Pune Supergiants in IPL 2017. After releasing Mitchell Starc, KKR was looking to bring in fresh faces in the pace department. And thus, they opted for Ferguson.

He was included in the playing XI straightaway but he failed to deliver. The 27-year-old was wayward, giving away too many runs both in the powerplays as well in the death overs. He managed to pick just 2 wickets while bowling at an economy of 10.76 runs per over. Ferguson was eventually dropped from the playing XI as Harry Gurney was preferred to him.

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#4 Prasidh Krishna (Matches - 11, Wickets - 4, Economy - 9.34)

Prasidh Krishna failed to keep the scoreboard in check (Picture courtesy: iplt20.com/BCCI)

Kolkata Knight Riders suffered a major blow before they started off the season when three of their fast bowlers were ruled out of the tournament. The young Indian pacers Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi and the latest South African pace sensation Anrich Nortje were out of the entire season due to their respective injuries.

Thus, the responsibility fell on the Karnataka seamer Prasidh Krishna, who was quite impressive for KKR in his debut season last year. Owing to his performances in IPL 2018, he was selected in the India A side too. However, Prasidh got a bit of a stick in IPL 2019.

While he failed to take wickets, he leaked way too many runs. Despite his continuous failures, the KKR team management persisted with Prasidh but he managed to get only 4 scalps in 11 matches. KKR might drop Krishna next season and opt for an experienced seamer.

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#3 Piyush Chawla (Matches - 13, Wickets - 10, Economy - 8.96)

Chawla appealing for a wicket (Picture courtesy: iplt20.com/BCCI)

Piyush Chawla is one of the senior most players in Kolkata Knight Riders' camp. Chawla is the second highest wicket-taker for KKR in the IPL. Owing to his years of experience playing on Indian pitches, Chawla was expected to keep things tight in the middle orders. Also, with Kuldeep Yadav being dreadfully out of form, his role in the side became more crucial.

At the time when he was expected to shoulder extra responsibility, the leg-spinner perished. Chawla did take 10 wickets in 13 matches but the lack of control in his bowling put pressure on the other bowlers.

The opposition batsmen took a liking to Chawla's bowling and scored runs briskly off his bowling. He conceded runs at a poor economy of 8.96. Owing to his poor performance this year, the 30-year-old's time with KKR might come to an end.

#2 Carlos Brathwaite (Matches - 2, Runs - 11 Runs, Wickets - 0)

Brathwaite played just two matches in IPL 2019 (Picture courtesy: iplt20.com/BCCI)

After his last heroics against England in the World T20 finals in Kolkata in 2016, Carlos Brathwaite has been a big letdown. While he hasn't been able to cement his place in the West Indies team, Brathwaite hasn't done anything noteworthy in the IPL.

After playing for two franchises in three years, Brathwaite was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders at a hefty amount of ₹4.5 crore. It was considered to be a big gamble taken by KKR keeping in mind Brathwaite's underwhelming performance in the IPL so far. He was more of a backup to Andre Russell who has had struggles with injuries.

Unfortunately, the story continued for the big West Indies player who scored just 11 runs with the bat and went wicketless with the ball in the two matches he played in IPL 2019. It is highly unlikely that KKR will retain Brathwaite after such poor returns.

#1 Robin Uthappa (Matches - 12, Runs - 282, Strike-rate - 115.10)

Will KKR sack Uthappa because of his poor scoring rate? (Picture courtesy: iplt20.com/BCCI)

282 runs at an average of 31.33 in 12 matches are numbers that are considered to be pretty decent in T20 cricket. However, sometimes numbers can deceive. Robin Uthappa has been the backbone of KKR's batting for years now and has played many match-winning innings for the team.

However, in the last couple of years he has struggled to score quick runs. Uthappa's low scoring rate problem aggravated in IPL 2019 as his slow knocks cost KKR a couple of matches. His strike-rate in IPL 2019 has been a low 115.10. His innings against RCB, where KKR was chasing a mammoth target of over 200 and against Mumbai Indians, which was a make or break, was not received well by fans or cricket pundits.

KKR seems to be breeding young Indian batsmen like Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana and thus might do away with the experienced Uthappa next year.