"They tend to go slightly overboard" - Sanjay Manjrekar on KKR's IPL 2023 trades

Sanjay Manjrekar feels the Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) call to pay huge bucks to acquire Shardul Thakur and Lockie Ferguson is understandable, although the franchise has tended to go overboard with their spending in the past.

The Kolkata-based franchise spent a whopping ₹20.75 crore in total to trade Thakur and Ferguson from the Delhi Capitals (DC) and the Gujarat Titans (GT) respectively. They also acquired Rahmanullah Gurbaz for ₹50 lakh from the defending champions.

During an interaction on the Star Sports show 'Game Plan', Manjrekar cited Shivam Mavi's example to highlight that the Kolkata Knight Riders have not always been pragmatic at the auction table, explaining:

"I don't think KKR's auction performance has been the best in IPL history, like it used to be for the Mumbai Indians or CSK. You can ignore the last performance. When KKR spent seven crores for Shivam Mavi and then released him, you come to know that they tend to go slightly overboard.

Speaking about Thakur, the former Indian batter opined that his fellow Mumbaikar could prove his worth as an all-rounder, observing:

"Shardul Thakur is a tried-and-tested player. His last season was not that special and his Indian season was also not that great, but he can be quite dangerous in the all-rounder's role."

Thakur picked up 15 wickets in 14 games he played for the Capitals in IPL 2022 but proved quite expensive, conceding an average of 9.78 runs per over. The seam-bowling all-rounder scored 120 runs in the tournament at a decent strike rate of 137.93.

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"It is a gamble" - Aakash Chopra on KKR's acquisition of Lockie Ferguson

Lockie Ferguson has played for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the past. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Manjrekar reckons KKR's acquisition of Ferguson might be a gamble. He said:

"He (Thakur) bowls in the death overs. He is hit-and-miss but I can understand why they put a big price on him. Lockie Ferguson was there with them but after that played for a different franchise, there I feel it is a gamble."

However, the cricketer-turned-commentator added that the two-time champions' decision is understandable as the seam-bowling department was their biggest concern, elaborating:

"When I look at KKR's playing XI - Venky Iyer, Gurbaz, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer, Andre Russell - the batting looks okay. Sunil Narine plus Varun Chakravarthy is there. So I think some pace support is what they need and understandably that's where they paid the big bucks."

The Kolkata Knight Riders have a remaining purse of just ₹7.05 crore for the IPL 2023 auction to be held in Kochi on Friday, December 23. They only have 14 players as of now and will have an uphill task ahead of them to assemble a balanced squad.