Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are going into the eleventh edition of IPL, with a huge blow to their team recently. They lost speedster Mitchell Starc after the pace bowler suffered the tibial bone stress fracture in his right leg. But the franchise had managed to rope in England fast bowler Tom Curran as a replacement.
The young English pacer Curran will have a lot of responsibility on his shoulders this season for KKR. The franchise is quite thin in their bowling lineup, they do not have much depth in their pace attack.
With the absence of Starc, the onus will be on the youngster to deliver big in the T20 league.
However, KKR coach Jacques Kallis believes that the team might get little nervous in the first game, as they are a new bunch.
“Everyone’s a little bit nervous going into the first game but since there is a new look to the teams, everyone will also try to feel each other out,” Jacques Kallis said in a presser.
Kallis also believes that his side could continue their good record against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) when the two sides meet on April 8 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
“We have got a good record against them and we will look to continue that,” said Kallis.
The 42-year old Kallis, who was an integral part of KKR over the years, hope that Tom Curran will play a big role for the team this season.
“Unfortunately Starc got injured but we have got a replacement in Curran. We look forward to some exciting stuff from Tom. (He) should stand up and play a big role in absence of Mitchell,” Kallis remarked.
He also believes that wrist spinners can once again play a massive role in this season’s IPL.
Wrist spinners have been the trend in T20 cricket off late. These spinners with unconventional deliveries have helped sides pick out wickets in middle overs.
“Their mystery ball is difficult to pick so they do play an important role alongside the conventional spinners. We also got a couple and they will come in handy, especially here at the Eden Gardens,” he concluded.
With both Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav in their ranks, Kolkata Knight Riders have one of the deadly spin duos in IPL this season.
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