IPL 2022, Kolkata Knight Riders: Squad, schedule, and stats
The 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League will commence on March 26. Kolkata Knight Riders will face defending champions Chennai Super Kings in the tournament opener. It will be a rematch of the IPL 2021 final, at the Wankhede Stadium. Two-time IPL champions, KKR will kick-start a fresh campaign under the newly-appointed skipper, Shreyas Iyer. Here, we decode KKR's squad, schedule, and stats.
Complete squad of KKR (IPL 2022): Shreyas Iyer (captain), Pat Cummins, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Shivam Mavi, Sheldon Jackson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Dar, B Indrajith, Abhijeet Tomar, Pratham Singh, Ashok Sharma, Sam Billings, Alex Hales, Ramesh Kumar, Mohammad Nabi, Umesh Yadav, Aman Khan
KKR started their auction by buying Australian Test skipper Pat Cummins for Rs. 7.25 crore. Thereafter, they broke the bank for the services of Indian batter Shreyas Iyer (Rs. 12.25 core). The Kolkata-based franchise also bought Nitish Rana after shelling out Rs. 8 crore. KKR spent Rs. 7.25 crore to acquire Shivam Mavi and roped in Indian seamer Umesh Yadav for Rs. 2 crore.
Following the auction, KKR appointed Shreyas Iyer as their captain. He replaced England's Eoin Morgan for the role. Iyer made his IPL debut for Delhi Capitals in 2015. In 2018, he was appointed DC's captain midway through the season after Gautam Gambhir stepped down. The former led DC to the playoffs in 2019. DC played their first-ever IPL final under Iyer, in 2020.
Kolkata Knight Riders qualified for the playoffs of the IPL 2021. They made it to the final even after losing Qualifier 1. However, CSK beat KKR by 27 runs in the final. Although KKR's comeback was lauded, Eoin Morgan fell out of favor with the KKR management due to his batting form. Moreover, Morgan remained unsold in the IPL 2022 Auction.
In the IPL 2021, mystery spinner Sunil Narine scalped his seventh four-wicket haul. He overtook former Mumbai Indians pace spearhead Lasith Malinga on the tally. Narine now has eight hauls of four or more wickets (one five-for).
Probable XI of KKR: Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Sam Billings (wicket-keeper), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Shivam Mavi.
March 26: CSK vs KKR at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, 7:30 PM IST March 30: RCB vs KKR at DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai, 7:30 PM IST April 1: KKR vs PBKS at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, 7:30 PM IST April 6: KKR vs MI at MCA Stadium, Pune, 7:30 PM IST April 10: KKR vs DC at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, 3:30 PM IST
April 15: SRH vs KKR at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, 7:30 PM IST April 18: RR vs KKR at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, 7:30 PM IST April 23: KKR vs GT at DY Patil Stadium, 3:30 PM IST April 28: DC vs KKR at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, 7:30 PM IST May 2: KKR vs RR at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, 7:30 PM IST
May 7: LSG vs KKR at MCA Stadium, Pune, 7:30 PM IST May 9: MI vs KKR at DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai, 7:30 PM IST May 14: KKR vs SRH at MCA Stadium, Pune, 7:30 PM IST May 18: KKR vs LSG at DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai, 7:30 PM IST
