IPL 2022: 3 overseas KKR players to watch out for

The 15th edition of the IPL is scheduled to start on March 26. The Kolkata Knight Riders came into the IPL mega-auction having retained Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Venkatesh Iyer.

KKR's major acquisitions included Alex Hales and Sam Billings, who are a part of their overseas batters department. Their biggest picks among the bowlers were Pat Cummins and Tim Southee.

KKR has also appointed Shreyas Iyer as the new captain of the franchise after releasing England captain Eoin Morgan. Let's take a look at three overseas players who can set the stage on fire for the Kolkata-based franchise.

#3 Sunil Narine

Sunil Narine was KKR's second overseas retention after Andre Russell for ₹6 crores. In 134 matches, Narine has taken 143 wickets at a miserly economy rate of 6.74 and scored 954 runs at a strike rate of 162. He is arguably the franchise's greatest ever player, contributing to multiple wins over the years.

Although he is no longer the Narine of old, he will still have a very crucial role to play in the current KKR setup. Narine can bowl in all three phases of the game as per the demands of the team. As a batter, KKR can float him around to hit spinners and medium pacers - like he did against RCB in the eliminator.

Narine has done incredibly well as an opener in the BPL. However, the team management would be better off going with an opening pair of Hales and Venkatesh Iyer to provide the balance to this KKR unit.

Narine was the Player of the Match in KKR's triumph over Bangalore in last year's IPL eliminator. More recently, he also won the Player of the Match award for the Comilla Victorians in both the semi-final and the final of the Bangladesh Premier League.

#2 Pat Cummins

Kolkata bought back Australian Test captain Pat Cummins at the IPL mega-auction for ₹7.25 crores. In 112 T20 matches, Cummins has picked up 125 wickets at an average of 26 and an economy rate of 7.80. He has represented KKR and Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League.

In 25 matches for KKR, Cummins has taken 23 wickets at an average of 34 and an economy rate of 8.32. Being the leader of the pace attack, he will certainly be looking forward to improving these numbers in the upcoming season.

Apart from his phenomenal bowling skills and lower-order batting prowess, Cummins is also a natural leader. He will assist the new KKR captain, Shreyas Iyer with tactics.

#1 Alex Hales

Alex Hales was signed by the Knight Riders for just ₹1.5 crores at the IPL mega-auction. The English opener is one of the most explosive batters in the 20 over format. He has scored 9471 runs in 336 T20 matches at an average of 31 and a strike rate of 146.

Hales played only six matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2018, scoring 148 runs at an average of 25 and a strike rate of 125. He is yet to get an extended run at the top of the order in the Indian Premier League.

Hales will most likely open the batting for KKR along with Venkatesh Iyer. The left-right combination at the top of the order provides a lot of balance to the playing XI. Both the batters have done particularly well in the powerplay overs, so expect fireworks if the management finalizes them as the opening partnership.