Having bought the costliest player in the history of the IPL auctions, spending a whopping Rs 24.75 crore, have they strengthened their core and are they real contenders for the IPL 2024 trophy?

Kolkata Knight Riders SWOT Analysis

Strength: A settled quarter of overseas players

With Starc in the team as a left-arm express pacer, KKR seemed to have ticked off all the boxes as far as the overseas quota is concerned.

Their retainers, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine are fit and firing. And the hole in the batting line-up after Jason Roy’s withdrawal was aptly filled by Phil Salt. This put KKR in a great position of strength.

KKR IPL 2024 Schedule

Weakness- Inexperienced Indian pace attack

Though they have Starc, Narine, and Varun Chakravarthy in their armoury, the likes of Russell and young Indian bowlers like Suyash Sharma, Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana cannot be trusted enough to deliver with the ball in every game.

KKR IPL player and their salary

Opportunity- For Iyer and Co. to become dark horses

It is an opportunity for Shreyas Iyer, the skipper, to showcase that he belongs on the biggest stage. Having led the Delhi Capitals to the final previously, he would look to count on Nitish Rana and a new hero in town-Rinku Singh along with the four overseas to rise and show that they are the real dark horses of the tournament.

Threat- Of getting bogged down under pressure

The biggest threat for the Kolkata unit is getting bogged down under pressure. If their key players do not click then they do not possess great substitutes. A set of consecutive defeats might take them under pressure. The inexperienced Indian players are likely to crack first and hence this remains the biggest threat for the team from eastern India.

IPL 2024: KKR Probable Playing 11

Phil Salt, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Suyash Sharma

First Published: Mar 23 2024 | 5:18 PM IST