GameDay Squad IND Fantasy Cricket Squad Preview: The Kolkata Knight Riders! Get the inside scoop on the Kolkata Knight Riders Cricket Squad for the upcoming GameDay Squad competition with an in-depth analysis and preview. Find out who to watch out for!
The Kolkata Knight Riders finished a sultry 7th overall in Indian Cricket standing for the 2023 competition. With the addition of some big names, they will look to climb the ladder and take on the finals series in 2024!
Squad (Averages and position rank for IPL 2023 included)
Rinku Singh – Batsman (AVG 45, Rank 10th)
Nitish Rana – Batsman (AVG 43, Rank 12th)
Varun Chakravarthy – Bowler (AVG 40, Rank 13th)
Andre Russell – All-rounder (AVG 36, Rank 19th)
Venkatesh Iyer – All-rounder (AVG 36, Rank 20th)
Rahmanullah Gurbaz – Wicket-Keeper (AVG 32, Rank 11th)
Vaibhav Arora – Bowler (AVG 30, Rank 40th)
Anukul Roy – All-rounder (AVG 27, Rank 33rd)
Suyash Sharma – Bowler (AVG 26, Rank 48th)
Harshit Rana – Bowler (AVG 25, Rank 54th)
Sunil Narine – Bowler (AVG 23, Rank 59th)
Manish Pandey – Batsman (AVG 20, Rank 31st)
Angkrish Raghuvanshi – Batsman (AVG N/A, Rank N/A)
Mitchell Starc – Bowler (AVG N/A, Rank N/A)
Shreyas Iyer – Batsman (AVG N/A, Rank N/A) K.S. Bharat – Wicket-Keeper (AVG N/A, Rank N/A) Sakib Hussain – Bowler (AVG N/A, Rank N/A) Sherfane Rutherford – Batsman (AVG N/A, Rank N/A) Chetan Sakariya – Bowler (AVG 38, Rank 16th)
Ramandeep Singh – All-rounder (AVG N/A, Rank N/A)
Mujeeb Ur Rahman – Bowler (AVG N/A, Rank N/A)
Dushmantha Chameera – Bowler (AVG N/A, Rank N/A)
Phil Salt – Wicket-Keeper (AVG 33, Rank 10th)
IPL 2023 stats from KKR home matches played at the Eden Gardens
Seven games played; KKR won two of them
Team winning the toss won two matches
Team batting first won four matches
Average first innings score of 192 (lowest 149 / highest 235)
Batter GDS average 42 points per match
All-rounder GDS average 31 points per match
Bowler GDS average 32 points per match
Wicketkeeper GDS average 31 points per match
83 wickets taken by bowlers, 40 to seam and 43 to spin
Batters
Superstar batsman and captain Shreyas Iyer returns to IND Cricket action after missing the 2023 season due to a recurring lower back injury. Fans and GameDay Squad coaches will be very excited by Shreyas' prospects after his string of incredible ODI World Cup performances. Shreyas averaged a whopping 64.8 GDS fantasy points through the competition and if he were to bring those performances to IND Cricket, he'll be a very popular player!
Rinku Singh returns as the highest averaging returning player for the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2023! The hard-hitting batsman took his game to another level in 2023, averaging a team high 44.8 GDS fantasy points per game! Singh will retain his position in the starting XI and will have every opportunity to become a must-start option once again at the Batsman position for fantasy cricket!
Bowlers
Marquee auction signing Mitchell Starc hasn't played IND Cricket since 2015 but returns this time in a purple jersey as he looks to take Kolkata to the next level! Mitchell Starc is no secret to the cricket world, while he has abstained from the IND Cricket stage for an extended period, he'll take his world class talents to the biggest domestic T20 stage and undoubtably become one of the best in the league from the get go! From a fantasy perspective, he's a must-start. Hell get a couple of overs early, then coming in late to finish the game off. Get him in your squad!
All-rounders
There are very few All-Rounders who come in as openers and one of them is Venkatesh Iyer! Venkatesh struggled to find his 2021 form again in 2023 but still managed a respectable 35.7 GDS fantasy points per game. While fans and GameDay Squad coaches will expect more from him this year, it's worth noting Venkatesh didn't bowl a single ball last season. Expect that to change in 2024 and expect Venkatesh to become a mainstay in your GameDay Squads! It's impossible to talk KKR without mentioning one of the most exciting cricketers in T20 history, Andre Russell. While it's impossible to know exactly what you're going to get from Russell, you know whatever it is... it will be explosive. Russell averaged 20.69 runs per game and took 7 wickets in 2023's iteration of IND Cricket. While that is far from his best output, he still averaged 35.8 GDS fantasy points per game! If he enters the 2024 season in a purple patch, he could be anything!
Wicket Keeper
K.S. Bharat is the big name in the KKR XI when it comes to wicket-keepers but i'm drawn to young Afghanistan international Rahmanullah Gurbaz! Gurbaz who enjoyed a good ODI World Cup from a personal perspective, where he averaged 42 GDS fantasy points per game while opening the batting for Afghanistan. With the departure of Jason Roy, we should see Gurbaz light up the big stage once again at the top of the batting order and will have every chance in the world to become one of the first selected players in GameDay Squad whenever KKR play!
Predicted Starting XI
1. Rahmanullah Gurbaz
2. Venkatesh Iyer
3. Shreyas Iyer
4. Nitish Rana
5. Rinku Singh
6. Andre Russell
7. K.S. Bharat
8. Sunil Narine
9. Mitchell Starc
10. Chetan Sakariya
11. Harshit Rana
Impact Player: Suyash Sharma