IPL 2022 Auction: Who will be KKR's fourth overseas player?

A tricky situation awaits the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of IPL 2022. To put things in perspective, the side have a lot of young and eager Indian faces led by a promising skipper in Shreyas Iyer.

But it's the international players who might give the side a bit to think about. Prior to the IPL 2022 Auction, the side retained the services of West Indies players Sunil Narine and Andre Russell.

They reacquired Pat Cummins during the mega-event and went on to bag Alex Hales, Sam Billings, and Tim Southee — leading to the most important question of who will be their fourth overseas player.

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Who will be KKR's fourth overseas player?

Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Pat Cummins pick themselves in the playing XI. Unless an injury or conditions that suit Tim Southee crop up, the Kiwi quick will replace Cummins, which again is unlikely considering the Australian bowler's meteoric rise.

What about Alex Hales?

While Alex Hales and his explosive batsmanship gives him a cinch to open alongside Venkatesh Iyer, KKR will have to look for a player who can bat through the innings and with both openers using a bang-bang approach, they might go with Ajinkya Rahane to lend more stability.

Will Sam Billings be the fourth player?

Possibly. The English player is a solid attacking bat suited to the format and is also a safe bet behind the stumps. His gameplay makes him the perfect bridge between Shreyas Iyer and Andre Russell, who can come in at No.6.

If at all the think-tank picks Hales to be their opener, then the likes of Sheldon Jackson becomes their wicket-keeper, but his ability to tee off from ball one becomes a factor to think about.

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KKR complete squad for IPL 2022:

Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer, Pat Cummins, Nitish Rana, Shivam Mavi, Sheldon Jackson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Dar, Chamika Karunaratne, Baba Indrajith, Ashok Sharma, Pratham Singh, Abhijeet Tomar, Sam Billings, Alex Hales, Ramesh Kumar, Mohammad Nabi, Aman Khan, Umesh Yadav