At least for the first half of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2023, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) would lose their usual captain, Shreyas Iyer. Shreyas will likely have surgery to fix an injury with his lower back that forced him to leave the fourth and final Test against Australia earlier this month.
In Iyer’s place, KKR has yet to name a new captain for the IPL 2023, even though their first game is on April 1 against Punjab Kings. Andre Russell, the all-around player for the West Indies, Shakib al Hasan, the captain of Bangladesh’s T20I team, and Nitish Rana, the captain of Delhi Ranji, are the top candidates to replace Iyer as captain.
Shah Rukh Khan’s team had won the IPL twice before but didn’t make it to the Playoffs in 2022 because they lost the IPL 2021 final against MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings. In Iyer’s absence, KKR will rely on Russell’s strength in the middle order. In-form Tamil Nadu opener Narayan Jagadeesan is set to come into the middle and play wicketkeeper.
Besides these two, it will be necessary for KKR’s batting that Rinku Singh and Rana do well. The all-arounder Venkatesh Iyer will be at the top of the order for the Knight Riders again, and either Litton Das of Bangladesh or Rahmanullah Gurbaz of Afghanistan will bat with him to start the game. They can also send spinner Sunil Narine to bat first if they choose to.
Narine, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, and Varun Chakravarthy will oversee the bowling attack. All-rounders Shardul Thakur, Russell, and Venkatesh Iyer will also help out.
Expected Playing XI Of KKR:
Andre Russell (captain)
Venkatesh Iyer
Litton Das / Rahmanullah Gurbaz
Nitish Rana
Rinku Singh
Narayan Jagadeesan (wicketkeeper)
Shardul Thakur
Sunil Narine
Umesh Yadav
Tim Southee
Varun Chakravarthy
