The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will be desperate to do better in the IPL 2023, especially after their underwhelming performance in the last IPL edition with their new-look squad under Shreyas Iyer as they finished seventh with 6 wins and 8 losses to their name.

The curse of injuries ahead of IPL 2023 also affected KKR as their captain Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of action for a considerable amount of time due to his back issues. This forced KKR to name Nitish Rana as their captain in the interim.

KKR also lost the services of Pat Cummins and Sam Billings who opted out of the IPL 2023, while they traded players with Gujarat Titans, getting Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Lockie Ferguson, and got Shardul Thakur from Delhi Capitals.  

The franchise also performed decently in the IPL 2023 given that they had a tight purse, to begin with. They bought players like Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, David Wiese, N Jagadeesan, and Mandeep Singh to name a few.

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There will also be a huge responsibility on the shoulders of experienced Andre Russell and Sunil Narine to guide the young KKR team in this tournament.

Keeping this in mind, here is the COC predicted best playing XI for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2023

KKR had struggled to find a decent top order in the IPL 2022 and they still have that problem with several options to choose from. Amidst the openers, they have Venkatesh Iyer, Litton Das, N Jagadeesan, and Rahmanullah Gurbaz to choose from.

Their middle order is a bit settled with Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, and Andre Russell, who will have a huge responsibility on their shoulders in absence of Shreyas Iyer. They can also utilize the likes of Mandeep Singh as well.

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The spin department will have the likes of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, and Shakib Al Hasan as options. Amongst the pacers, they have Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, and Vaibhav Arora to choose from.

KKR will have to find their best combination if they wish to have a chance to make it into the playoffs.

COC Predicted best playing XI for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR):

N Jagadeesan (WK), Litton Das, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (C), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy