IPL 2022 | ‘Purple and Gold’ march hard to turn IPL into gold

The two time Indian Premier League champions will be looking for their third title after losing to the Chennai Super Kings in the finals of the tournament last season, the franchise has seen their fair share of ups and downs after the exit of Gautam Gambhir from the franchise and has never managed to fill in the shoes left by their ex-skipper.

This time around, fans will hope for better results as the team managed to secure the signing of Shreyas Iyer to lead their side for the upcoming edition. The team has managed to hold onto a fair share of their players who were a part of their playing eleven in the finals last during the IPL Auction 2022 and will hope to bring the title back to the city of Kolkata.

Strongest Playing XI

Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Sam Billings, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Umesh Yadav, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy

Flaws

The absence of quality overseas superstars in the reserves could be one of the biggest headaches for the Knight Riders this season, with Andre Russell being injury-prone, the team can find themselves in deep waters if Russell finds himself on the sidelines, the West Indian has been a cornerstone in their batting order and his absence could leave a glaring hole in the middle.

While the team has a good bowling unit, their Indian pacers in Umesh Yadav and Shivam Mavi haven't been impressive in their outings so far in the previous editions of the tournament, both the bowlers could be a target for the opposing sides in the middle and death overs. The team will hope that the two can leave their previous performances behind and turn over a fresh leaf.

X-Factor

Venkatesh Iyer came into prominence after his heroics for the Kolkata Knight Riders last season and was one of the key reasons for their journey to the finals of the tournament. The player has developed a lot with time in the past few months and is the x-factor for the two-time champions, other than his explosive batting prowess in the power play, he can also chip in with the ball when needed which will surely help the side this season.

Analysis

The Knight Riders have found themselves amongst the group of death this season, with five-time champion Mumbai Indians and teams such as Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants in the same group. The team have a hard road ahead of them and the team will have to pull out their best performance if they wish to qualify for the knockouts.