3 reasons why KKR will not make it to the IPL 2022 playoffs

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), like a number of other teams in the IPL 2022 mega auction, had a clear plan of buying back as many former players as possible. They had already retained a strong core of Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy and Venkatesh Iyer going into the auction.

However, they had a huge issue to resolve and that was about getting themselves a new captain. Shreyas Iyer was going to be a hot property at the auction as a number of franchises needed a new leader for their side.

KKR went all out for the 27-year-old and bagged his services for a whopping INR 12.25 crore. They also bought back the likes of Pat Cummins, Nitish Rana and Shivam Mavi, but for a lot more than they would have liked to pay.

This has certainly led to some holes in their squad as the franchise didn't have enough money left in their kitty to address all the issues. On that note, here are three reasons why Shreyas Iyer won't be able to lead his new team into the playoffs this season:

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#3 Questions in the batting department

Venkatesh Iyer will open the innings for KKR, given his fantastic run in the second half of last season. However, it remains to be seen who opens alongside him.

KKR might have failed to replace the quality of Shubman Gill at the top of the order, as they have options like Ajinkya Rahane and Aaron Finch who can open with Venkatesh.

However, the 33-year-old Indian batter has been woeful over the last few seasons and Finch has been inconsistent in his IPL career. With Finch also not available for the first few games, KKR might have no option but to go with Rahane at the top of the order.

Another hole that the Knight Riders need to fill is in the middle-order. The likes of Shreyas and Nitish Rana will make the top four, but with the absence of Dinesh Karthik and Rahul Tripathi, KKR will need to bank on players like Sheldon Jackson who haven't proven themselves in the IPL.

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#2 Lack of genuine wicket-takers

KKR will once again be heavily dependent on the likes of Pat Cummins and Shivam Mavi to strike with the new ball. However, with Cummins not available for the first few games, they might need to look at someone like Umesh Yadav, who has been a touch expensive in T20s.

Sunil Narine and Varun Chakrvarthy are definitely capable of picking wickets in the middle-overs, but the pitches in Mumbai provide some extra zip for the pacers and won't be as slow and low as the ones in the UAE. So there is still some uncertainty on how much help the spinners will extract from the surface.

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#1 Lack of quality backups

Probably the biggest reason why KKR might not be able to make it to the playoffs is their overdependence on players like Andre Russell who are never quite far away from an injury scare.

In the previous season, the Knight Riders had the likes of Lockie Ferguson as a back-up to Cummins. But when Russell was injured, they struggled to maintain the balance of the team. Once again, it looks like they will be hoping that their star all-rounder doesn't break down in the middle of the tournament.

In the bowling as well, there is no proven match-winner on the bench who can come in if there is an injury to either Narine or Chakravarthy. If KKR manage to keep their first XI consistent throughout the league phase, they have an outside chance of making it to the playoffs.

However, god forbid if there is an injury scare to any of their star players, it could prove to be fatal to their chances of making it to the final four.