Kolkata Knight Riders, the KKR, have emerged as the defending champions after they made a commencing win in the IPL 2024 under their most veteran coach, Gautam Gambhir. After Gambhir’s appointment as the India head coach, the position was left vacant, which was filled with the arrival of Dwayne Bravo.
Bravo has now taken over the mentorship of the KKR camp, and alongside Chandrakant Pandit, he would also have to have his own preferences over the other assistant coaches, since Abhishek Nayar as well as Ryan ten Doeschate also followed in the footsteps of Gambhir to join the Team India shed.
Under Bravo, many changes might be seen under the Kolkata Knight Riders camp, as he might drop the likes of some of the greatest players ahead of the next edition of the IPL.
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3 players likely to be released ahead of the IPL mega-auction:
Nitish Rana
The left-handed batter who made a start to his career with the Mumbai Indians and even rose to prominence with the side as a prominent IPL middle-order batter was later swapped with KKR when Suryakumar Yadav moved to the Mumbai Indians.
Rana emerged as one of the best batters for the Knight Riders, as he has made many match-winning contributions to the side. However, Rana, due to injuries and also lack of form, could not be compelled to do better in the previous edition of the IPL.
Though Rana and also Venkatesh Iyer might not be retained further, as the probable spots will be filled with skipper as well as their crucial overseas players.
Mitchell Starc
The surprise package from IPL 2024, where the lanky Australian all-rounder helped KKR in their triumphing win after Gambhir put on a heap of money over Starc, the pacer who won the World Cup, for a whopping price of 24.75 crores INR.
Starc was a decent performer for the Knight Riders, though he played an inevitable role during the knockout games, as he produced wickets and also handled pressure due to him being an immensely experienced campaigner in knockout games. Starc might not be in Bravo’s retention books, especially due to his hefty purse, which seems loaded.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz
The Afghan batter who slammed many runs for the last cricketing year on an international platform might not be retained due to the new retention rules, which require heavy investment ahead of the mega-auction.
If they include the likes of great Phil Salt in the retention book as well as their squad, then Gurbaz would only be their second preference option in the role of a wicketkeeper batter, which doesn’t seem likely for Knight Riders.
However, Bravo’s days during the T20 World Cup with the Afghanistan cricket team might also give and extend a hand of favour to Gurbaz, as both have shared some great time at the Afghan camp.
