"None of them can become the captain" - Aakash Chopra on the Kolkata Knight Riders' captaincy options for IPL 2022
Aakash Chopra believes the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will have to shop for a captain at the IPL 2022 auction as none of their four retained players are captaincy candidates.
KKR retained Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer and Sunil Narine ahead of the IPL 2022 auction. They opted not to retain their skipper Eoin Morgan and it will be interesting to see if they look to acquire him back at the auction.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra highlighted that the Kolkata Knight Riders will look for a captain at the auction. He observed:
"KKR have retained Venkatesh Iyer, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine. None of them can become the captain. This is the sad reality that you would still have to shop for the captain."
The former KKR player feels the franchise is unlikely to reacquire Morgan. Chopra reasoned:
"You had made Eoin Morgan the captain and I don't think they will even buy back Eoin Morgan, because the sort of performance he has given - KKR was playing with almost 10 players, I understand captain has a lot of value but contribution with the bat is necessary."
Aakash Chopra reckons the two-time champions are unlikely to go back to their former skipper Dinesh Karthik either. He explained:
"If they had retained Shubman Gill, he could have been a choice but now he is also not there. It means he was not part of their leadership group. Dinesh Karthik has been this team's captain but they won't be thinking about Dinesh Karthik as a captain now or going ahead, because as good a player he is, age is not on his side."
The Kolkata Knight Riders might have thought about buying back Shubman Gill at the auction. However, the lanky opener has been picked by the Ahmedabad franchise as part of the draft.
"Shreyas Iyer has a potential chance of becoming the Kolkata Knight Riders captain" - Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra cast his vote for Shreyas Iyer as a potential captaincy candidate for the Kolkata Knight Riders. He elaborated:
"I feel Shreyas Iyer has a potential chance of becoming KKR captain because the top three slots are empty, not entirely but you need an opener with Venkatesh Iyer and you can keep Shreyas Iyer at No. 3 and make him the captain. It is a slightly bigger ground, might just suit his style."
"RCB, KKR and PBKS is likely to bid for the Shreyas Iyer in the Mega auction." - According to TOI
Apart from the Kolkata Knight Riders, the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Punjab Kings might also be looking for a skipper. Iyer could be a prime target for all three of these franchises.