IPL 2023: Kolkata Knight Riders are one of three teams that have won the Indian Premier League twice. The Men in Gold and Purple won the IPL title in 2012 and 2014 under the leadership of Gautam Gambhir. But the two-time champion didn’t have the expected result in the last season of the league. They ended up winning only six games out of 14 and finished at 7th place on the table.
However, they have made some significant changes to the team for the IPL 2023 and appear to be a well-balanced side. KKR acquired Lockie Ferguson from Gujarat Titans and Shardul Thakur from Delhi Capitals to bolster their bowling attack, which struggled last season. Now, they have some good bowling options.
Best Bowlers for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2023
In this article, we will check the best bowling options for KKR for the coming edition.
5. Varun Chakravarthy
The franchise has shown a great deal of trust in Varun Chakravarthy in last few seasons. He didn’t have a great performance in 2022, but still, KKR retained him, which shows the faith they had in him. Varun was their pick of the bowlers in previous seasons. He has joined KKR in 2020 and has been part of the team since then. He is known as a mystery spinner with a bunch of tricks in his beg. Varun has 41 wickets for KKR with a best of 5/20.
4. Andre Russell
Whenever the name of Andre Russell comes to the mind, everyone thinks of his explosive batting. But he is equally a good bowler for any team he plays for. Especially for KKR, he has been the core of the team since the 2014 season. Russell has played for KKR for the last nine seasons. And he was one of the picks of the bowlers. He normally bowls at the death for them and takes wickets. Russell took 17 wickets in the 2022 season. Overall, for KKR, he has taken 88 wickets with a best of 5/15. The franchise will need him to deliver one more time.
3. Shardul Thakur
Shardul Thakur is one of the regular pacers for India in all three formats. But in white-ball he is part of the Indian team from quite some time now. Shardul played the last season for Delhi Capitals, and then he was traded into the KKR setup ahead of the IPL auction in 2023. He took 15 wickets in the last season. Because he is an Indian bowler, which will allow him to play all games. Overall, Shardul has taken 82 IPL wickets. KKR traded him for a price of INR 10 crore, which shows that they also rate him very highly.
2. Umesh Yadav
Veteran Indian pacer Umesh Yadav was phenomenal with the ball for KKR in the 2022 season. He ended up taking 16 wickets at a brilliant economy rate of 7.06. He swings the ball both ways with a good pace and has the ability to take wickets upfront. That’s what KKR will expect him to do in the coming season. For KKR, he has taken 64 wickets in 59 games in five seasons.
1. Sunil Narine
Sunil Narine joined KKR in 2012, which was his debut season and since then, he has become the face of the KKR bowling. And even after 11 years, he is the leader of the bowling attack for the franchise. Narine is a consistent performer who takes wickets and also restricts the opposition from scoring quick runs in the middle overs. He took only nine wickets last season, but his economy was brilliant at 5.47. Narine has taken 152 IPL wickets for KKR in 148 games.
KKR Squad for IPL 2023
Shreyas Iyer (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Varun Chakravarthy, Shakib Al Hasan, David Wiese, Litton Das, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, N. Jagadeesan, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, Kulwant Khejroliya, Mandeep Singh.