IPL 2025 - Key Starting XI Decisions KKR have to make for IPL 2025

Kolkata Knight Riders are the defending champions in IPL 2025. They won the trophy last year and dominated the whole league with one of their best performance in history the Indian Premier League.

It was KKR’s third title triumph and the franchise will be motivated to repeat their performance in the 18th edition as well. Kolkata Knight Riders will begin their IPL campaign on the first day of the season against Royal Challengers Bangalore at their home ground Eden Gardens.

The management has made multiple changes in the squad. However, the biggest change that has occurred is the mentorship where Gautam Gambhir has left the team to coach the national squad and Dwayne Bravo has taken over the role.

Another big change that has occurred in the squad is the release of their trophy-winning skipper Shreyas Iyer. Iyer led the team in IPL 2024 and won the trophy but still, the management failed to retain the Indian batter and KKR is yet to choose a replacement for him.

During the IPL 2025 mega auction, Venkatesh Iyer was retained using the RTM rule for a price tag of INR 23.75 Crore. Anrich Nortje and Quinton de Kock were also signed for a price tag of INR 6.50 Crore and INR 3.60 Crore respectively.

Before the beginning of the IPL 2025 mega auction, Kolkata Knight Riders retained Rinku Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh. The rest of the squad was built around these core players. In this article, we bring you the key decisions that KKR management has to make before the beginning of the 18th IPL season to make sure they dominate the league and the IPL predictions.

IPL 2025 - Kolkata Knight Riders - Squad

Rinku Singh, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Ramandeep Singh, Andre Russell, Anrich Nortje, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markhande, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Spencer Johnson, Luvnith Sisodia, Ajinkya Rahane, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Umran Malik

Probable Playing XI

Sunil Narine, Quinton de Kock (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Anrich Nortje, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora (IP)

IPL 2025 - Kolkata Knight Riders - Key Decisions for Starting XI

1) The Top Order

One of the biggest decisions that will turn things around for Kolkata Knight Riders will be the right composition of their top order. The franchise has signed Rahmanullah Gurbaz and he has come out as an asset for all the teams he has been part of in the T20 cricket league. However, the beginning of 2025 has not been as good as it was expected from him but soon the Afghan batter is expected to come on the right track. Kolkata Knight Riders must settle him to open the game with Quinton de Kock and Venkatesh Iyer at number 3.

2) Keep it Flexible for the Team

The squad of Kolkata Knight Riders has multiple star batters. They have kept a good strategy to keep the backup for their key players. However, players like Ajinkye Rahane and Rinku Singh should be told their roles clearly. The duo needs to be flexible enough to replace a batter who is either injured or not in good form.

Ajinkye Rahane is an experienced batter who can be useful at the top order. However, he can also come to play at number 4 and can equally contribute in the success of the team.

Rinku Singh is the designated finisher for the team. However, in tough situations, Rinku Singh can be promoted to number 5 to make sure the team gets a major push in their run rate.

3) Spencer Johnson is The Key

Kolkata Knight Riders have a plethora of pace attacks including Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Andre Russell, Mayank Markande, and Umran Malik. However, they also have the Australian pacer Spencer Johnson who can be the key to success during the middle overs. Spencer Johnson should be given more chances during the death overs because he is known to handle the pressure well in the Big Bash League and can control the game with his swing attack.

IPL 2025 - Kolkata Knight Riders - Schedule

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