IPL 2021: Kolkata Knight Riders complete players list, squad and all you need to know
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are one of the top teams in the Indian Premier League. They managed to win 2 titles in the tournament with both their victories coming in successful run-chases. Gautam Gambhir-led team were fearless in their approach as they defeated Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2012 and IPL 2014 respectively.
Since IPL 2014, they haven’t made a real case for themselves as a powerful team. Although they did their best to entertain the fans they didn’t do much to reach the final. They were inconsistent at times ever since Gambhir left the team. The two-time IPL champions finished out of top 4 and as a result, they failed to qualify for the playoffs.
Kolkata Knight Riders finished 5th in the points table with 14 points owing to poor Net Run Rate. Even Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad had the same points but had a better Net Run Rate compared to NRR and this is why they qualified for the playoffs. However, one can’t write KKR off because they can stun any opposition on their day.
KKR sign Shakib Al Hasan and Harbhajan Singh
KKR did a fantastic work by recruiting the services of experienced Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan. He is someone who can offer his all-round inputs with good effect. He bats and bowls really well. The last time he played cash-rich IPL was in 2019 where he plied his trade for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
This isn’t the first time that Shakib will be playing for KKR. He was an integral part of the KKR team that won the title in IPL 2012 and IPL 2014 under the leadership of Gautam Gambhir. KKR have now acquired the former Bangladesh captain for INR 3.2 crore.
Besides signing him, the two-time IPL champions added the likes of Sheldon Jackson (INR 20 lakhs), Vaibhav Arora (INR 20 lakhs), Karun Nair (INR 50 lakhs), Harbhajan Singh (INR 2 crores), Ben Cutting (INR 75 lakhs), Venkatesh Iyer (INR 20 lakhs), Pawan Negi (INR 50 lakhs). Harbhajan Singh who last played international cricket back in 2016 will be looking forward to a good IPL season with KKR.
KKR retained the core part of the team including big players like England’s Eoin Morgan, Australia’s Pat Cummins and India’s youngster Shubman Gill, etc. On the other hand, they released as many as 5 players from their unit. The likes of Tom Banton, Chris Green, Siddesh Lad, Nikhil Naik and M Siddarth have been released by KKR ahead of the IPL 2021 auction.
List of players retained by KKR: Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Tim Seifert.
KKR complete squad for IPL 2021:
Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy, Tim Seifert, Shakib Al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Harbhajan Singh, Ben Cutting, Venkatesh Iyer, Pawan Negi, Vaibhav Arora and Karun Nair.
