IPL 2019: Kolkata Knight Riders' strongest possible playing XI

#2 Sunil Narine

Sunil Narine

The Caribbean mystery spinner has reinvented himself as a pinch-hitting opener. It has been a revelation and has worked well in T20s. Last season, Narine amassed 357 runs in 16 matches. His average may have only been 22 but his strike-rate remained 190. He often provided fiery starts and disrupted opposition plans by tonking their best bowlers.

Batting is only the secondary duty of Sunil Narine. With the ball, he still remains lethal. In the 2018 season, Narine was the joint highest wicket-taker for KKR with 17 wickets. He did a fabulous job of tying batsmen to one end with his splendid economy rate of 7.65. All this when he bowled all the difficult overs.

#3 Robin Uthappa

Robin Uthappa

The 33-year old Karnataka batsman has been one of the mainstays of Kolkata Knight Riders over the years. Uthappa has consistently churned out runs for the franchise over the last five editions of the IPL. He began his stint with a stellar season and has been scoring in excess 350 runs every season. 2018 was not his best season and yet he still gathered 351 runs.

With at least one of Narine and Lynn being around, Robin Uthappa is the ideal man to walk out at number three. He does take a few balls to get going, but once set, he will anchor the innings to set it up for the finishers. He failed to build on the starts in 2018 but will hope to do so in 2019.