IPL 2025 - Can Kolkata Knight Riders Defend Their Title in IPL?

The 18th season of the Indian Premier League will bring a massive opportunity for the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders. Their opportunity will be to continue their run as the winners.

Kolkata Knight Riders won IPL 2024 in style as they dominated the whole league from the start. It was a presentation of a team performance where every individual from the team contributed to the success of the team.

In the previous edition, Kolkata Knight Riders finished at the top position with 9 wins and 3 losses. Their net run rate stood at +1.428. They reached the playoffs with flying colours and faced Sunrisers Hyderabad.

It was a comfortable win for Kolkata Knight Riders in the first playoff and the team qualified for the final fixture. In the final match, Kolkata again came face to face with Sunrisers Hyderabad and scored yet another comfortable win to lift the trophy.

IPL 2025 will be a new challenge as the team is coming back into action after multiple changes in the squad and in the team management. The biggest change will be the exit of Gautam Gambhir as a mentor and Dwayne Bravo becoming the new mentor of the team.

Gautam Gambhir has become the team India coach and hence he won’t be available to mentor Kolkata Knight Riders. Their trophy-winning captain, Shreyas Iyer, has also departed from the squad and the management is yet to announce the name of the new skipper.

Kolkata Knight Rider team management has retained Rinku Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh from the old squad. During the IPL 2025 mega auction, Venkatesh Iyer came out as the costliest buy for a price tag of INR 23.75 Crore.

Quinton de Kock (Rs. 3.60 crore), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Rs. 2 crore), and Anrich Nortje (Rs. 6.50 crore) were the top purchases from the list of overseas players. Their performance in the league will impact the future of the team.

In this article, we bring you the winning odds for Kolkata Knight Riders according to the cricket betting sites and a detailed analysis of the team for IPL 2025.

IPL 2025 - Can KKR Repeat History?

Winning the 2nd consecutive IPL title will be dependent on multiple factors for Kolkata Knight Riders. Here are a few major aspects on which KKR will be dependent to win their 2nd consecutive IPL title.

Strong Bowling Lineup

The bowling lineup of Kolkata Knight Riders is the biggest advantage for the team. Before the IPL 2025 mega auctions, Kolkata Knight Riders retained Varun Chakaravarthy who is the new Indian spin star. He had a brilliant outing in T20 international cricket since his comeback for the team and Varun will be expected to continue the momentum. Varun was also a dominating figure in IPL 2024 as he came out as the 2nd highest wicket-taker in the league.

Anrich Nortje, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, and Venkatesh Iyer are also part of KKR’s bowling squad. Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, and Venkatesh Iyer are already well-settled with the team and the inclusion of Anrich Nortje’s lethal pace has made KKR more deadly in IPL.

Good All-rounder Depth

Kolkata Knight Riders have a good depth in the lineup of their all-rounder segment. Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, and Venkatesh Iyer will play the leading role as all-rounders. They have also retained Ramandeep Singh and that gives them an advantage in the middle order and in the pace unit. With the inclusion of Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, and Rovman Powell, Kolkata Knight Riders have built a strong core of the team. Kolkata Knight Riders will be highly dependent on these names to perform the 2-dimensional role in IPL 2025.

The Uncertainty in the Batting Unit

During the IPL 2025 mega auction, the KKR team management completely failed to fulfil their requirement in the batting unit. At the top order, Ajinkye Rahane and Quinton de Kock will be expected to perform. These two batters are experienced but they are also inconsistent when it comes to T20 cricket. Rahane has been out of touch and the Proteas batter has been a failure in the SA20 cricket league.

Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz has been in the news because of his consistent performance in T20 international cricket and in the T20 cricket leagues across the globe. The whole team will be dependent on him to score the majority of the runs with Rinku Singh playing the role of a finisher in the death overs.

IPL 2025 - Kolkata Knight Riders - Winning Odds

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