This year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) team prediction for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) features a young squad.
Under the new management and leadership, the Kolkata Knight Riders’ performance dipped in 2022 after finishing as runners-up in 2021. Despite his success as a captain with Delhi Capitals, Shreyas Iyer was unable to spell success with Knight Riders.
However, the Knight Riders should be able to find new hope in 2023 after a new year with many new faces. There are a number of potential match-winners on this Knight Riders team, but they don’t have the most competent side as compared to the other teams.
With so many options in terms of players, it’ll be interesting to see which playing 11 they choose for IPL 2023. The purpose of this article is to explore the best playing 11 for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as well as a few other options depending on the situation for the IPL 2023 season. We’ll take a closer look at KKR’s official squad for the 2023 IPL before moving on.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) official squad for IPL 2023
The batsmen are Mandeep Singh, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, and Shreyas Iyer (c).
There are three wicketkeepers, Litton Das (o), N Jagadeesan & Rahmanullah Gurbaz (o).
A team of all-rounders: Andre Russell, Anukul Roy, David Wisse, Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, and Venkatesh Iyer
Varun Chakravarthy, Umesh Yadav, Suyash Sharma & Tim Southee took turns with the ball this time around.
The total number of players is 22.
Kolkata Knight Riders’ strongest playing 11:
In the opening pair, Rahmanullah Gurbaz [wk] and Venkatesh Iyer are
When selecting their opening combination, Kolkata Knight Riders will have the biggest headache. In this team, no one is guaranteed a starting spot as an opener. However, KKR retained Venkatesh Iyer ahead of the IPL 2023 auction. Therefore, KKR is considering opening with Iyer despite his ordinary IPL 2022 performance.
Venkatesh Iyer being one of the openers leaves three options: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Litton Das, and N. Jagadeesan. Among the three, Rahmanullah Gurbaz has the most potential and talent. As an explosive opener in the world, he was retained by KKR, as well as retained by KKR.
We can expect KKR to open Rahmanullah Gurbaz alongside Venkatesh Iyer unless there are restrictions on overseas players. Assuming that overseas player restrictions arise, KKR could opt for N. Jagadeesan as their opening batsman.
In the middle-order, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer [c], and Rinku Singh play
IPL 2023 – All 10 TeamsKKR doesn’t have much to worry about when it comes to the middle-order. In his usual position of 4, Captain Shreyas should play. The two left-handed players he should surround himself with are Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh. The number 5 position should be occupied by Rinku Singh ahead of Andre Russell, while the number 3 position should be occupied by Nitish Rana. The option of Rinku may also be considered after Russell when only 4-5 overs remaining.
Sunil Narine & Andre Russell are the lower-order players
Andre Russell and Sunil Narine are most likely to form the lower-order for KKR. Depending on the number of overs left, Russell can bat at 5 or 6. KKR does not have any other good all-rounder to turn to when Sunil Narine is not available for the number 7 position. Shakib AL Hasan or David Wiese can be substituted if KKR opts not to play Gurbaz at the top.
Bowlers: Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Lockie Ferguson & Varun Chakravarthy
To improve its bowling attack, KKR traded Shardul Thakur from Delhi and Lockie Ferguson from Gujarat earlier this season. They’ve been added to KKR’s bowling lineup, which also includes 2022 standout Umesh Yadav and mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy. It is also possible that KKR will play Tim Southee in the side if they choose N. Jagadeesan is at the top.
IPL 2023 Premier League Best Predicted Playing 11 for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR):
In addition to Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, & Varun Chakravarthy, there are many other key players.
So, we now have the best prediction of playing 11 for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2023. The best playing 11 for KKR has a rate of 8.28. It’s neither too good nor too bad. Furthermore, KKR can ponder the following three playing 11 options in case the strategy is changed.
Kolkata Knight Riders’ alternate best playing 11:
#1: Shakib Al Hasan for Rahmanullah Gurbaz
The Kolkata Knight Riders have a good number of overseas players at their disposal that can be used as necessary. In the middle order, KKR can play Allrounder Shakib Al Hasan if they play N. Jagadeesan at the top. So, Sunil Narine would play at 8, Rinku / Russell at 6/7, and Shakib Al Hasan at 5. In this way, KKR has strengthened their lower order with the addition of Shakib.
#2: David Wiese for Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
As another option, KKR can play David Wiese at number 7 and N. Jagadeesan at number 1 in place of Rahmanullah Gurbaz. As a result of this move, the batting order does not change much. Therefore, Rinku Singh should be at no. 5, Andre Russell at no. 6, David Wiese at no. 7, Sunil Narine at no. 8, and Shardul Thakur at no. 9. KKR now has seven bowling options, which gives them good batting depth.
#3: Tim Southee for Varun Chakravarthy for Pace-friendly conditions
With Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy as the first-choice spinners in the KKR squad, the bowling line-up is the best. For pace-friendly conditions, KKR can play N. Jagadeesan as the opener, and Tim Southee can replace Varun Chakravarthy in place of the fourth overseas player.
