IPL 2020 begins from September 19 in the UAE.
The IPL 2020 will begin from September 19 onwards and will be played in the UAE across three bio-secure venues- Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah. The tournament will see ten double-headers being played.
While all the teams are looking to win the tournament, one team is certainly expected to do well given their squad and that is two-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders, who will be looking to repeat the success of the 2014 IPL when the first half of the tournament was played in UAE and KKR went on to win the edition.
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The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have a good mix of veterans and youngsters in their squad in both, batting as well as bowling departments. The likes of Shubman Gill, Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Rinku Singh have been in the side for the past couple of seasons and will be looking forward to having a big season to get into the core of the KKR side.
They are the only IPL team other than the Mumbai Indians (4 titles) and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to have won the title more than once. With the big-hitters like Sunil Narine and Andre Russell being proven effective against the spinners, the edition in UAE might help them get just that. It is an excellent opportunity for the Knight Riders this year to win their third title!
Here, Team COC brings to you the top 5 players who can help KKR win IPL 13
ANDRE RUSSELL
Andre Russell has become quite the force in T20 cricket and certainly risen up to the ranks of legends in the format. The man with the highest strike rate (186.42) in IPL history has been the finisher for KKR that they wanted badly for the previous few seasons.
He has been in form in the last couple of years and has never looked more dangerous. He has a special liking for the spinners and hits them well into the stands in any part of the innings. The turning point was Dre Russ in the IPL was probably the 36-ball 88 against CSK when his side was reeling at 89/5. Courtesy of this humongous knock, KKR posted 202/6 on the board.
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Another famous knock in the same season against the RCB rose his stakes as ‘the finisher KKR wanted’. At one stage, KKR needed 53 runs off 24 balls and Russell raced to 48 runs off 13 balls as if he was playing a video game. He took KKR over the line with 5 balls to spare!
This is the exact Russell that KKR would like to show up in the UAE and take the responsibility of taking his side over the line more often than not. With 1400 IPL runs at a strike rate of 186.42, the bowlers are most likely to ask for hamstring injuries rather than an over against this man!
SUNIL NARINE
Sunil Narine has always been KKR's best spinner. After being smashed all over the place in 2019, he remodeled his action and has come back even stronger. The tweaker’s contribution with the ball will be much more important for KKR than with the bat.
He has proven to be dangerous as an opener, but the management cannot rely upon him in matches where they are absolutely needed to get a win.
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The Trinidadian will be playing his 9th season for KKR in the IPL and he continues to be their leading bowler. So far, he has picked up 122 wickets in 109 innings including a 5-wicket haul. T20 cricket is in his genes and UAE is the place to unlock those genes and wreak havoc.
The only bowler in T20 history bowl a maiden super over needs nothing more than a spinning track to be a force to reckon with. The dry pitches in UAE will get even slower as the pitches get used and Narine will be into his elements right then.
SHUBMAN GILL
Member of the 2018 U19 World Cup-winning Indian team, Shubman Gill, has been touted as one who can become a batting great if given enough opportunities. Gill has been getting picked up for the national side time and time again but hasn’t yet managed to cement his place in the T20I team.
There can’t be a better tournament than IPL 2020 to show his mettle to the world and get into the T20I squad for the upcoming ICC tournaments. The 21-year-old was moved up the order by KKR team management midway in IPL 2019 and even opened the innings with Chris Lynn.
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Gill has the ability to build an innings by picking the singles and doubles and that comes into play once the pitches in UAE start getting slower and there won’t be any flat tracks to build huge scores on.
Shubman Gill is pretty young for IPL numbers, but he has scored 499 runs in 24 innings with a healthy strike rate of 132.36. If he can maintain that over the time and can combine forces with the likes of Russell and Eoin Morgan, KKR would be the team to beat this season.
KULDEEP YADAV
The 25-year-old Kuldeep Yadav didn't have a very good outing in the IPL 2019, playing only 9 games in the season and managing only 4 wickets. He bowled at an average of 71.50 and an economy of 8.66.
Coming into this season, Yadav will be looking to playing on spin-friendly tracks and get his mojo back. He is one of those bowlers who don't alter their line and length much but still manages to get wickets on the flighted deliveries.
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His primary job has always been to restrict the opposition batsmen from scoring quick runs and wait for them to make mistakes.
If Kuldeep wants to play in the major upcoming ICC events for the Indian side, he will have to make this IPL 2020 season count. He will be happy with the IPL shifting to the UAE because this is where he turned heads in the U19 World Cup in 2014.
PAT CUMMINS
Coming to the man with the fattest cheque in the IPL 2020 auctions, Pat Cummins has become one of the best bowlers in the world over the past couple of years.
He won’t be affected with the pitches offering help to the spinners as he will be bowling his first two overs with the hard new ball which tends to bounce and swing a bit more.
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His next two overs will be used in the death overs and he will be eyeing the blockhole in that period. In the World Cup in 2019, Cummins picked up 14 wickets and was the second-highest wicket-taker for Australia.
In the auctions for IPL 2020, he got picked up by KKR for a whopping amount of INR 15.5 crores. He will be back to his original team from IPL 2014, where he first won the title with them under Gautam Gambhir. The 27-year-old Aussie will be the leader of their pace attack.