IPL 2020 Auction: 3 biggest buys for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
Kolkata Knight Riders are the third most successful franchise in the history of IPL, but they endured a difficult 2019 as they could not reach the knockouts, even with Andre Russell’s superhuman performances. Towards the end of the 2019 IPL, rifts between senior players and lack of squad depth hurt them badly. They released some of their key players such as Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, and Piyush Chawla as they failed to make an impact in the 2019 edition.
Going into the auction, they were looking for a decent backup all-rounder for Russell, and a world-class fast bowling spearhead. At the end of the auction, they will be satisfied with the players they purchased as their squad is a great mixture of exciting youngsters and experienced veterans. KKR bought a total of nine players, including four foreigners, and spent INR 27.15 crores in the process. Here are their three biggest buys in the auction,
#3 Varun Chakravarthy - ₹4 Crores
In the 2019 auction, Kings XI Punjab surprised everyone by acquiring a relatively unknown Varun Chakravarthy for INR 8.4 crores. He played only one game for Punjab and was ruled out of the season due to an injury. He did not feature in any first-class or List A fixture in the past year for Tamil Nadu and no one was expecting him to get sold for INR 4 crores.
Varun could either be KKR’s trump card or one of their uninspired buys, as the price tag looks a bit hefty for a player with so little experience at the highest level. He will be under pressure to fill the void left by veteran Piyush Chawla but if the Kolkata track suits him well, it will be hard for the opposition batsmen to deal with his variations.
List A record - Innings: 9 Wickets: 22 Economy: 4.23 Strike Rate: 23.6