IPL 2015: Predicted Kolkata Knight Riders XI

Kolkata Knight Riders, the defending IPL champions, had a pretty decent outing at the auctions this year. While the entire cricketing world was busy discerning the logic behind their humongous investment of Rs 2.4 crore on little known KC Cariappa, Venky Mysore & co. continued to silently enrich their artillery with a roster of Indian domestic talents in addition to James Neesham and Brad Hogg.However, with Australian sensation Chris Lynn and New Zealander Neesham being sidelined from the tournament due to injury, the Shahrukh Khan-owned outfit decided to seek possible replacements in former South African skipper Johan Botha and Pakistani all-rounder Azhar Mahmood.Here’s their predicted XI for this year’s IPL: 

#1 Gautam Gambhir

As the captain of a reorganized KKR team, Gautam Gambhir had been entrusted, in 2011, with the duty of turning around the fortunes for the side that had been a frequent name in the bottom three for the first 3 seasons. The Delhi lad went on to answer the faith shown in him by winning the trophy not once, but twice – in 2012 and 2014.

As an opener, Gambhir boasts about the ideal spot to lead from the front – a responsibility that he performed consistently in 2012. Although the India-discard hasn’t been among the runs for a while now, it would be too imprudent to write him off especially in the format where he has flourished so well.

Being a southpaw and opening the innings with the aggressive right-hander Robin Uthappa adds to his advantage as he looks forward to maneuver the gaps and build the innings responsibly without having to bother about the run-rate. He would be keen to better his previous season’s tally of 335 runs from 16 matches and use this platform as a desperate attempt to return to the national team.