IPL 2022 Auction: Predicting Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) playing XI

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will be one of the sides that may have lost out on some key buys during the IPL 2022 Auction. While Purple and Gold did have great retentions, the same couldn't be said about all their acquisitions during the mega event.

Before predicting the ideal XI, here's a quick look at their complete squad:

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

The 24-member squad gives them three things to look for in the auction — experience, youth and a new skipper, but their balance seems to have taken a hit in the process.

Here's our take on the ideal playing XI KKR can field.

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Predicting KKR's ideal playing XI

Venkatesh Iyer is a lock as an opener, but the question is who will partner him at the top? Alex Hales is ideally the best bet, but that would mean compromising on a safe gloveman behind the stumps, in which case it would be Sam Billings.

The next best bet is to open with Ajinkya Rahane, who tasted success with the Royals as an opener. The numbers say it all: 3941 runs from 141 innings at an average of 31.53 and a strike rate of 121.34 shows the experience he brings to the table.

This would mean an anchor and an aggressor for them at the top. Nitish Rana and Shreyas Iyer will take the middle order slots followed by Billings, Russell, Narine and Pat Cummins.

Opening with Rahane may work as a double-edged sword and the side will not gamble with Narine to open the innings. The middle and lower order are their best chances of scoring the bulk of their runs.

Shivam Mavi, Umesh Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy are cinch to be their bowlers.

Player	Role
Ajinkya Rahane	Bat
Venkatesh Iyer	Bat
Shreyas Iyer	Bat
Nitish Rana	Bat
Sam Billings	Bat/Wk
Andre Russell	All-rounder
Pat Cummins	All-rounder
Sunil Narine	All-rounder
Umesh Yadav	Bowl/seam
Shivam Mavi	Bowl/seam
Varun Chakravarthy	Bowl/spin

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What are your thoughts on KKR's playing XI?