Who do you think will win IPL 2017? Which batsman will win the Orange Cap and which bowler will take home the Purple Cap?
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WHAT HAPPENED LAST YEAR?
The Kolkata Knight Riders [KKR] qualified for the playoffs but lost to eventual champions SunRisers Hyderabad in the eliminator.
Chasing 163 to win, KKR stumbled against a very strong SRH bowling line-up as they could manage just 140 with their batsmen failing to convert starts into match-winning knocks.
Earlier, they had finished fourth during the league stage with 16 points – eight wins and six losses.
Captain Gautam Gambhir led from the front for the Kolkata-based franchise, notching up 501 runs at an average of 38.53 and a strike-rate of over 120 during the campaign.
In the bowling department, it was Andre Russell who stood out with 15 wickets to his name, averaging a wicket per 19.4 runs and an economy rate of below 8.
WHAT IS NEW THIS YEAR?
KKR snapped up as many as nine players during the auction in February. The biggest additions were England all-rounder Chris Woakes and New Zealand fast bowler Trent Boult.
Having released Morne Morkel and Pat Cummins, there was a shortage of foreign pacers in the squad and that gap has been filled now with Woakes, Boult, and Australia’s Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Woakes also could be seen as a replacement for Russell, who will miss the IPL due to a ban over a doping violation.
West Indies’ Rovman Powell has also been signed up and is being talked up as a possible replacement for Russell. Powell will be joined at KKR by another West Indian international cricketer in Darren Bravo.
Rishi Dhawan, Ishank Jaggi, Sayan Ghosh, and R Sanjay Yadav are the Indian players that Kolkata managed to buy at the auction.
After a strong performance in IPL 2014, Dhawan didn’t have the best of times at the Kings XI Punjab over the next two seasons and will be eager to take this opportunity to impress the Indian selectors as he tries to make a comeback to the national team.
HOW WILL THEY DO?
Just like previous seasons, KKR have a very strong bowling unit and the likes of Sunil Narine, Boult etc. will be crucial in deciding the fortunes of the team.
Their batting also has some firepower with Australian Chris Lynn expected to be more active this time around, having been given limited opportunities in the last three seasons.
The absence of Russell is likely to be a big factor and although KKR have signed replacements, his unavailability might be what stops the Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise from fighting it out for the title.
SQUAD LIST
Captain: Gautam Gambhir
Batsmen: Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Chris Lynn (overseas), Yusuf Pathan, Sheldon Jackson, Ishank Jaggi, Darren Bravo (overseas), R Sanjay Yadav.
All-rounders: Shakib Al Hasan (overseas), Chris Woakes (overseas), Rishi Dhawan, Rovman Powell (overseas).
Wicket-keepers: Robin Uthappa
Bowlers: Sunil Narine (overseas), Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Umesh Yadav, Ankit Singh Rajpoot, Trent Boult (overseas), Nathan Coulter-Nile (overseas), Sayan Ghosh.
