IPL 2019: Five released players KKR should target at the auction
The Indian Premier League, the flagship event of Indian cricket, is back in the headlines with pre-auction activities. With the auction for IPL 2019 a month away, 15th November was the trade deadline day for IPL franchises. All the teams have announced the players they have retained for the upcoming season and the players whose duties they no longer wish to avail.
Kolkata Knight Riders punched above their weight in the IPL 2018 and ended up at the third spot in the competition. They had a disastrous auction last year and ended up with the smallest squad. Under the leadership of Dinesh Karthik, KKR fought hard and earned a place in the playoffs ahead of Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
By letting go of Mitchell Starc, KKR made the first move. On the final day, the two-time IPL winning franchise released seven more players which include Mitchell Johnson, Tom Curran and Vinay Kumar. For the upcoming auction, KKR can fill up to 12 slots with maximum seven Indians and five overseas players. They possess 15.20 Cr in their purse to acquire these players.
Along with fresh entrants and unsold players, the players released by all franchises shall also be added in the IPL auction. Here are five released players KKR should target at the auction:
#5. Jaydev Unadkat
The Saurashtra bowler was the biggest talking point ahead of the IPL 11 because of the whopping amount spent by Rajasthan Royals to procure him. The franchise paid 11.5 crores to enlist Unadkat as their spearhead bowler. However, he failed to deliver on the hype and ended with 11 wickets from 15 games while proving to be expensive.
As expected, Rajasthan Royals have released Jaydev Unadkat and he will be available in the auction. KKR have released most of their fast bowlers and will be on the lookout for buying a few as they are an indispensable entity. Unadkat, bought at a right price, can remedy their crucial problem.
Unadkat is not new to the Knight Riders setup. It was here that he trained under Wasim Akram in his early years and the franchise bought him back in 2016 for 1.6 crores. The left-arm pace bowler knows how to bowl at the Eden Gardens and the natural variation that the left-arm pace brings will add another facet to KKR bowling. Unadkat has been performing well in the domestic cricket post-IPL and will be a perfect addition to the Kolkata team.