The IPL 2024 winners finished eighth in the subsequent season.
The former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batter Aakash Chopra recently opened up about the team’s loopholes and playing XI issues ahead of the IPL 2026 season.
The cricketer-turned-commentator has raised questions about KKR’s combination of foreign players. Following the retirement of the veteran Caribbean all-rounder Andre Russell, the team would have to elect a strong batting option down the order.
“A topic of discussion would be which four overseas would play. Among the four overseas, if they make a keeper-batter open, who will bat in the lower order? They have generally had a keeper opener. They have taken Tim Seifert and Finn Allen this time,” he noted on his YouTube channel.
The former Indian player went on to explain the lack of experience in the KKR batting lineup, if the side opts to open with any of their New Zealand recruits alongside skipper Ajinkya Rahane. The middle order, consisting of Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, and Tejasvi Singh Dahiya, is not expected to bring in the explosive fireworks needed in the death overs without a solid finisher in line.
“If you play either of them and open with Ajinkya Rahane alongside him, you will play Cameron Green at No.3. The questions start coming after that. Angkrish Raghuvanshi at No.4, Rinku Singh at No.5, Ramandeep Singh at No.6 and Tejasvi Singh at No.7. It’s not sounding that great to me. Your middle order looks slightly cold,” stressed Chopra.
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Sunil Narine has had some successful editions while opening the innings for KKR, including a blazing 480-plus season in 2024 that guided the franchise to their third IPL title. But many have voiced for including a proper opening option at the top, especially after their last season’s woes.
The Men in Purple had tried star South African wicketkeeper batter Quinton de Kock and Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz, but both failed to display consistency and couldn’t produce fierce knocks.
However, the ex-KKR player believes that including Narine in their opening combination once again would provide them more flexibility to use Rovman Powell’s power-hitting in the lower-middle order. He opined that they could also bring in Anukul Roy in place of Tejasvi after witnessing a commendable effort from the Jharkhand all-rounder in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2025.
“If I make Narine open with Rahane, play Cameron Green at No.3, Angkrish Raghuvanshi as a keeper at No.4 or else get Tejasvi to keep, then Rinku at No.5, Ramandeep at No.6 and Rovman Powell at No.7 or vice versa, and then Tejasvi, how is it looking now? It looks a better team,” stated the former batter.
While discussing the bowling unit, Chopra noted how the inclusions of Cameron Green, Matheesha Pathirana, and Mustafizur Rahman have strengthened the side, which was already equipped with the likes of Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, and Vaibhav Arora.
“They already had 16 overs of bowling. They now have 22-23 overs of bowling. They already had Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy. Then two or three overs from Cameron Green and four overs from Matheesha Pathirana/Mustafizur Rahman. This is a gun bowling unit,” he added.
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