Former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain, and the only one to win them two IPL titles, is not happy with the Indian batsmen possessed by KKR for IPL 2021. Gautam Gambhir sees only Shubman Gill and to an extent Nitish Rana, performing with the bat for the Men in Purple.
Dinesh Karthik is another Indian batsman with KKR but he bats too low in the batting order according to Gambhir. The rest of the batsmen, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell and bowling all-rounder Sunil Narine are overseas players.
Gambhir told Star Sports, "Indian batting is a huge problem for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Apart from Shubman Gill and to a certain extent Nitish Rana, I don't see so much quality. Dinesh Karthik bats too low in the batting lineup, he has had a horrible season last time around."
"That is the reason they will be very much dependent on Eoin Morgan and Andre Russell. Andre Russell needs to fire if they need to be competitive. They need to win the tournament, it's been 6-7 years since they haven't won the tournament. You can look very good on paper but they haven't been that consistent" he added.
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KKR bought Karun Nair for Rs. 50 lakh in the IPL 2021 auction but the southpaw wanted them to go for Kedar Jadhav instead. He also pointed out the fact that Rahul Tripathi and Karun Nair are good batsmen but the latter is suited to play in the top order only.
Gambhir said, "Had they probably had a little better Indian batting lineup, probably someone like a Kedar Jadhav, yes they went for someone like an experienced Karun Nair. But Kedar Jadhav could have given them that little bit of firepower in the middle order."
"They have got Rahul Tripathi and Karun Nair but Karun Nair is probably more suited to bat at the top of the order. So from that point of view, I feel a little bit of chink in the armour," he added.
The 39-year-old once again put out the question to KKR that has haunted them for some time now. 'Who will be the two batsmen to open for KKR?' The needle once again seems to point towards part-timer opener Sunil Narine along with the young Shubman Gill.
"Who are they going to open with? Are they going to open with Sunil Narine again with Shubman Gill? Do they have that much firepower at the top of the order because Eoin Morgan at 4, Dinesh Karthik at 5 and Andre Russell is still the middle order," Gambhir concluded.
