IPL 2019: What should be KKR's ideal playing XI

Kolkata Knight Riders had a fairly decent campaign in IPL 2018 as they finished third in the tournament. The one department where they really struggled during the last season was their fast bowling department. They have bought a couple of fast bowlers, Anrich Nortje, and Lockie Ferguson, to add fire powers to the start of the bowling.

The two-time champions have bought Windies T20I captain Carlos Brathwaite for five crore INR. The other signings include Joe Denly, Harry Gurney, Yara Prithviraj, Nikhil Naik, and Shrikant Mudhe.

Despite buying a couple of good fast bowlers, KKR looks a tad weak as there are no experienced fast bowlers in their arsenal. The spin-heavy KKR franchise has good batting depth too.

Without much ado, here is the ideal playing XI for Kolkata Knight Riders.

---

#1 Sunil Narine

Sunil Narine can provide a quick-fire start to KKR

Sunil Narine, a well-known mystery spinner for close to a decade, has astonishingly improved his batting prowess and became a regular opener for Kolkata Knight Riders. The West Indian all-rounder has opened 26 of the 32 matches KKR has played in the last two seasons.

As an opener, he has scored 565 runs at an amazing strike rate of 187.71. His quick-fire starts have helped KKR middle-order to mount a huge score game after game.

As as a bowler, Sunil Narine is one of the best in the T20 business. He has taken 17 wickets last season at an impressive strike-rate of 21.53. He mostly bowls his quota of four overs and has a career economy rate of less seven runs per over.

Sunil, who has been playing T20 cricket all around the world, has the advantage of focussing on shorter format of the game throughout the year. This makes more potent than other International players who play all the format.

#2 Chris Lynn

Lynn is one of the most destructive batsmen in T20s

Chris Lynn is one of the most attacking batsmen in the world. The Australian cricketing world fondly calls his aggressive batting style as 'Lynnsanity'. However, the top order batsman has never impressed at the International level having disappointing runs in both ODIs and T20Is.

Lynn, on the other end, is a beast in franchise-based cricket. His effortless six hitting abilities make the bowlers fear him. He has played 144 T20s so far in his career scoring close to 4000 runs at an impressive average and strike rate of 32.95 and 142.58 respectively.

The right-handed batsman opened all the 16 innings for KKR last season scoring 491 runs with three fifties. His partnership will Narine is one of the most entertaining aspects of IPL.

#3 Shubman Gill

Gill will look to play up the order for KKR this time

Shubman Gill has grown in stature from a star U-19 batsman to a potential candidate for the Indian top-order slot in a span of one year. KKR did a smart move by buying Gill for a rather bargain amount of 1.8 crore INR last season.

Despite playing in the lower-middle-order slot, the starlet improvised well and scored runs at an impressive average and strike-rate of 33.83 and 146.6 last season. However, Gill should come at the top to exhibit his true potential.

Dubbed as future Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill is all set to rock the IPL world this season.

#4 Robin Uthappa

Uthappa will be anchoring KKR's middle-order

Robin Uthappa is one of the stalwarts of the Indian Premier League. He has been playing IPL since its inception in 2008 and has played a whopping 165 games so far. He has amassed 4129 runs so far and would anchor KKR's middle-order.

He is the fifth leading run-scorer in IPL history only behind Raina, Kohli, Rohit, and Gambhir.

Last season was a year to forget for Uthappa as he scored just 351 runs at a below-par average of 21.94. He would like to bounce back this season and KKR would continue to have him in the middle order to provide solidity.

#5 Nitish Rana

Rana has a constant presence in KKR's middle-order

Nitish Rana is another constant presence in KKR middle order for the past two years. Rana has played 15 games last season scoring 304 runs at an impressive strike-rate of 131.03.

The left-handed batsman started his 2018 campaign on an impressive note before fizzling out in the later stage of the tournament. KKR would love to see him playing a more predominant role in their middle order this season.

His occasional offspinners have provided breakthroughs for the two-time champions last season as he claimed four wickets from just six overs.

#6 Dinesh Karthik

Karthik; the captain and the finisher for KKR

Dinesh Karthik will continue to captaining Kolkata Knight Riders this season after having an impressive stint last time. The Tamil Nadu batsman has grown stature by becoming one of the best finishers in T20 cricket maintaining an average of 71.00 and 60.33 in 2017 and 2018 respectively. His strike-rate too has improved in the last two years to 160.00 when compared to his career strike-rate of 140.80.

The Wicket-keeper batsman led his side impressively last season along with taking the onus of finishing the innings. He has averaged 49.80 last season with an equally impressive strike rate of 147.77.

#7 Andre Russell

Russell is one of the best all-rounders in the world at the moment

Andre Russell is arguably the best T20 allrounder in the world. His ability to demolish opponents with brutal six hitting and his knack of taking crucial wickets has made him a force to reckon with.

Like Narine, Russell focusses on the franchise based cricket throughout the year. The allrounder has played 276 T20s so far scoring runs at a remarkable strike-rate of 166.56. He also has 251 t20 wickets against his name.

Last season for KKR, Russell has scored 316 runs an astonishing strike-rate of 184.80. He also took 13 wickets justifying his tag of an allrounder.

#8 Kuldeep Yadav

Kuldeep is one of the world's best spinners at the moment

Kuldeep can arguably be called as one of the best spinners in the World cricket at the moment. His ability to take wickets on even a flat or a pacer-friendly condition made him a unique commodity in the market.

The left-arm leg spinner has become a constant member in the Indian Team through his consistent performance both at home and overseas. As far as IPL cricket is concerned, he worked well in tandem with Narine making them a deadly spin duo for the last two seasons.

Kuldeep has taken 17 wickets last season at an impressive strike-rate of 18.12. The 24-year old will only get better with experience as he will play a major role in KKR winning more IPl trophies in the upcoming years.

#9 Piyush Chawla

Piyush Chawla supported Narine and Kuldeep well in the spin department

Piyush Chawla will play the role of the third spinner in the squad supporting Narine and Kuldeep Yadav. He played a key part in KKR's successful campaign last season by taking 14 wickets from 15 games.

After failing to find a regular spot in 2017 season ( playing just six games), Piyush Chawla got into the playing XI under the captaincy of Dinesh Karthik. The captain's inclination towards playing three spinners has helped him to find a place in starting XI.

Chawla is a decent lower-order batsman who can score some vital runs coming towards the end of an innings.

#10 Shivam Mavi

Mavi is the future of Indian fast bowling department

Shivam Mavi came into the spotlight after a string of impressive performances for India in the U-19 ICC Cricket World Cup last year. He was soon bought by KKR in the last year's IPL auction for a base price of 20 Lakh INR.

The 20-year-old showed some promise in the limited opportunities he got in the last season claiming five wickets from nine games.

Despite his limited experience, he bowled well in the death overs. He is still a raw product and can exhibit his full potential if given proper guidance and chance.

#11 Lockie Ferguson

Lockie is nicknamed as The Flash because of his express pace

Lockie Ferguson is one of the fastest bowlers in the world at the moment. His ability to bowl at the north of 150 kmph earned him a nickname 'The Flash' in New Zealand cricketing circle. He was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for a price of 1.6 crore INR this season.

Ferguson has played 22 ODIs and has claimed 39 wickets. His ability to pick wickets with his sheer pace is his specialty. He will have to lead KKR's pace attack as there are no other experienced International fast bowlers in their squad.