IPL 2019: Kolkata Knight Riders SWOT Analysis
Mar 18, 2019 at 9:46 PM
The 12th edition of the Indian Premier League is all set to begin in 5 day’s and two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders will begin their campaign on 24the March against Kings XI Punjab at their home ground in Eden Gardens. KKR have won the championship twice. However, both the title wins have come under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir.
Kolkata Knight Riders will look to start their campaign with a victory
KKR decided to change the team totally last year and gave the captaincy mantle to Dinesh Karthik. He looked in great touch with the bat and led his franchise to the playoffs despite not many giving them any opportunities ahead of the tournament. They have a relatively young team and will look to lift their 3rd title of the tournament. KKR has a strong unit but they have to mix and match with youth and experience and field a perfect team.
Strengths
The top order for the two-time champions looked one of the best in the tournament. Sunil Narine has been a great opener for KKR in the last couple of seasons and along with Chris Lynn has provided breezy starts to KKR on a number of occasions. Narine is more of a powerplay batsman and KKR has utilized his capabilities with the bat quite efficiently in the last couple of years.
Lynn is also a power hitter and has the ability to demolish any bowling attack on his day. In Dinesh Karthik, they have a reliable skipper in Dinesh Karthik they have a reliable middle order batsman who can bat anywhere in the order. He is definitely a great skipper for Kolkata Knight Riders in the previous edition and will look to enhance his skills this time around both as a batsman wicket-keeper and a skipper.
Weakness
KKR has a relatively young unit this time around just like the previous year which will definitely be on the back of the mind of Dinesh Karthik and the team management. The core group is quite impressive. However, the bench strength is something which KKR should be worried about.
Players like Shubhman Gill, Nitish Rana and Praisdh Krishna have performed quite admirably in the last year. However, they are just young players and can have an off day which might prove to be the drawback for Kolkata in few of the matches.
Opportunities
The two-time champions have a huge opportunity to lift their 3rd title. They have a pretty strong side without a doubt. However, their bench strength is not that strong which might be a worry for Kolkata. There are several young guns in the squad and they will definitely look to come good for the KKR in the upcoming tournament.
Guys like Prasidh Krishna will look to come all guns blazing in the tournament. Even for people like Kuldeep Yadav, it will be a great opportunity ahead of the World Cup. the whole squad consists of some premier players who will look to seize their opportunity ahead of the World Cup.
Threats
Just like most other teams the major threat for Kolkata Knight Riders will be the performance of the star players ahead of the World Cup. There is no doubt about the fact that IPL performance isn’t a qualification for international matches. However, the Indian and the World selectors will be looking ahead of the IPL to pick their respective players for the World Cup squads.
For Kolkata the performance of Dinesh Karthik will come under the scrutiny. A good performance for him might well book a place for him in the upcoming World Cup 2019.