IPL 2025: Inexperienced Pace Attack And…? 3 Weaknesses Of KKR

Aakash Saini

Kolkata Knight Riders [Source: @Johns/x]Kolkata Knight Riders [Source: @Johns/x]

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchise made some bold moves at the IPL 2025 mega auction. Apart from letting go of Mitchell Starc, the thunderbolt Australian speedster who delivered 'Player of the Match' winning performances in the qualifier and the final of their victorious IPL 2024 campaign, the franchise also did not retain its IPL-winning skipper, Shreyas Iyer.

Moreover, KKR's IPL 2024 proxy English opener Phil Salt was relegated out of the franchise despite his prolific contributions to the team at the top of the order.

While KKR's revamped squad exudes promise, it also reveals certain vulnerabilities that could hinder their pursuit of a successful title defence. Before going into the deeper analysis, let us look at the KKR squad for IPL 2025 –

KKR Squad For IPL 2025

Batters: Quinton de Kock, Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Angkris Raghuvanshi, Ajinkya Rahane, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Luvnith Sisodia

All-rounders: Moeen Ali, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell

Bowlers: Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Spencer Johnson, Mayank Markande, Anrich Nortje, Umran Malik, Varun Chakravarthy

Weaknesses Of KKR For IPL 2025

3. Lack of Captaincy Candidates

By releasing Shreyas Iyer before the IPL 2025 auction, KKR became the first franchise in IPL history not to retain its title-winning skipper for the following season. Iyer's release has also left KKR's high-profile captaincy role vacant for the time being, with the franchise slated to announce a suitable candidate at some point before the 2025 edition.

If the management decides to bank on the Indian experience, Ajinkya Rahane is ideally the most likely choice. However, if the franchise has a broader and more futuristic outlook in mind, they might consider either Venkatesh Iyer or the hard-hitting and dynamic Rinku Singh.

Either way, the KKR management seems to be short on first-choice captaincy candidates, considering even Rahane's past captaincy stint with the Rajasthan Royals would likely inspire less confidence among his new owners.

2. Inexperienced Pace Attack

In a move that surprised many, tearaway Australian speedster Mitchell Starc was released by the KKR franchise prior to the IPL 2025 mega auction. The champion fast bowler had blazed KKR to the IPL 2024 title victory by obliterating SRH twice in the knockouts, including once in the grand finale. 

Starc's absence will likely be felt by KKR's bowling department, especially considering the team will head into its IPL 2024 title defence in 2025 with three young and relatively inexperienced Indian fast bowlers in Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora and Umran Malik.

While the franchise did rope in Anrich Nortje, the South African speed demon has been troubled by injuries lately. Brisbane Heat star Spencer Johnson will start as one of the rare overseas quicks for KKR, but the Australian speedster has only been exposed to limited bowling experience in Indian conditions.

1. Misfiring Quinton de Kock at the Top

Phil Salt replaced fellow attacking English opener Jason Roy in KKR for IPL 2024 after the latter withdrew from the tournament due to personal reasons. Salt's late signing turned out to be quite productive for the franchise, as the blistering wicketkeeper-batter amassed 435 runs from just 12 innings of the tournament at an explosive strike rate of 182.

As it turned out, the 28-year-old was also released by the KKR management during the IPL 2025 retention window. Instead, the defending champions roped in LSG reject Quinton de Kock into their revamped composition. Ever since he accrued over 500 runs for LSG back in 2022, the dashing South African stumper has endured a couple of quiet seasons with the bat. In IPL 2024 itself, the cricketer managed just 250 runs in 11 innings at a substandard average of 22.72.

Quinton de Kock's recent ineffectiveness might put additional pressure on Ajinkya Rahane as well as on fellow top-order batters, leaving KKR heavily reliant on their middle order to compensate for a shaky start.