IPL 2020: Looking at Kolkata Knight Riders' auction strategy

The IPL 2020 player auction is just around the corner, and post the final day for the franchises to announce their list of released and retained players, quite a few big names were jotted down in the lead-up to the auction.

One of the biggest talking points from the Kolkata Knight Riders' released list of players was the management's decision to release three long-serving core team players in Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn & Piyush Chawla.

While some big names were released by KKR, they also opted to retain skipper from last season Dinesh Karthik, big-hitting all-rounder Andre Russell, exciting youngster Shubman Gill among other names.

Considering KKR's track record from past auctions, it is unlikely that they will be looking to re-sign the services of players from their released list, which means that we could see quite a few new faces in the KKR setup.

Retained: Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Sandeep Warrier, Harry Gurney, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Rinku Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Siddhesh Lad (Traded).

Released players: Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Piyush Chawla, Joe Denly, Yarra Prithviraj, Nikhil Naik, KC Cariappa, Matthew Kelly, Anrich Nortje, Shrikant Mundhe, Carlos Brathwaite.

Purse remaining: Rs 35.65 crores

On that note, here is an analysis on the possible gaps KKR need to fill from the player auction and how certain players could fit into the Dinesh Karthik-led setup.

---

Who are some of the players certain to feature in the playing XI?

There are a few explicit conclusions that can be drawn from the list of retained players for KKR. Sunil Narine and Shubhman Gill will be batting in the top 3 positions, while Nitish Rana will bat at 4, just like he does for Delhi in Vijay Hazare Trophy or Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Karthik and Russell can slot in at No.5 and No.6 respectively, rendering solidity to the middle order. By the look of things, Lockie Ferguson will be leading the pace artillery for the Knights along with Shivam Mavi or Sandeep Warrier, while Harry Gurney can be a suitable alternative on sluggish subcontinental pitches.

Shubhman Gill

Top Order

The departure of Lynn and Uthappa has left two gaping holes in the KKR top order and it will be a tough task for the team management to find suitable substitutes. The dynamics of KKR's top order in the upcoming season will depend a lot on the nature of overseas-recruit that they manage to acquire at the auction.

If they acquire a middle-order accumulator like Joe Root or Eoin Morgan, then Gill and Narine will be opening the batting with Root/Morgan coming in at No.3.

On the other hand, if KKR can afford the services of an explosive top-order batsman like Colin Munro/ Aaron Finch/ Kusal Perera/ Martin Guptill, then Narine will be opening with the hard-hitting top-order batsman, with Gill slotting in at No.3, in the form of an accumulator.

However, against oppositions with a quality pace attack, KKR may be unwilling to expose Narine at the top of the order. Hence, for those matches, they may be looking at someone like Rahul Tripathi from the auctions, to open the batting with the hard-hitting overseas batsman.

Dinesh Karthik

Middle Order

KKR, over the past few years has not been a franchise that has depended a lot on a specialist middle-order batsman. In the past 9 years, there has only been 1 specialist middle-order overseas batsman for KKR, in the form of Eoin Morgan (2011-12).

The rest of the KKR middle-order batsmen have all been either Indian specialist batsmen or overseas all-rounders. It is highly unlikely that they will be altering their strategy this time around, especially with a reliable middle-order core batting unit at their disposal already. Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik & Andre Russell will form the ideal middle order and KKR will be looking to find suitable backups for these players from the auction.

They have already traded in Siddhesh Lad as a middle-order backup option. In the auction, KKR may look at players like Deepak Hooda, Prashant Chopra (backup wicket-keeper) or, Baba Aparajith to bolster their bench strength for the middle order.

However, the team will need a strong backup for the injury-prone Andre Russell. James Neesham, Chris Woakes, Marcus Stoinis or Colin de Grandhomme may turn out to be too expensive to afford for KKR and hence, KKR may have to settle for someone like Moises Henriques or David Willey as a backup to the explosive West Indian all-rounder.

Lower Order: Dinesh Karthik is known to recommend young players based on his personal playing experiences with them in domestic cricket. Prasidh Krishna, Yarra Prithviraj, Shrikant Munde and Nikhil Naik are all players who were spotted by Karthik in domestic tournaments and then were then drafted into the KKR squad for the IPL.

Hence, there is a high probability, that based on Karthik's recommendation, KKR may go for Ishan Porel in the auctions, this year.

Porel had been in stupendous form in the Deodhar trophy 2019, where in the finals, he picked up a 5-wicket haul, with Dinesh Karthik keeping wickets for Porel's side. The young pacer looked good at the death in both in the Deodhar Trophy and has impressed in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as well.

Additionally, he is a regular feature in the Bengal state team which indicates his familiarity with the pitch and conditions at Eden Gardens, and all these factors make him a good option for KKR to consider from this year's auctions.

Ishan Porel-U19 WC 2018

Will KKR need to look out for a pace bowler?

The interesting thing about KKR, however, is that they have retained almost the entire pace bowling unit from last year, despite average returns from them. It remains to be seen whether Ferguson, Prasidh, Nagarkoti and Mavi can repay the trust of the KKR team management.

Yet, despite Ferguson's presence in the ranks, KKR will be looking for an overseas fast bowling option, someone who can pick up early wickets in the powerplay. Sheldon Cottrell, Adam Milne, Andrew Tye or Junior Dala are bowlers KKR could be targettting to slot into this particular position.

It will also be interesting to see if KKR will be willing to splurge on Mitchell Starc once again, after his series of injury issues in the past editions that have kept him out of a majority of matches.

KKR will also be on the lookout for a spin-bowling allrounder as a replacement for Piyush Chawla. While quite a few players have made an impression on the domestic front, someone like Jalaj Saxena could be on their radar.

With a giant purse at hand, KKR management will need to be meticulous with their spendings and buy quality players, who will ideally fit into the strengths of the team and help KKR pick up their third IPL title.