Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has criticized the selection of players made by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) during the auction of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). According to Gambhir, the KKR squad lacks in back up options for the crucial cogs of the team, especially if any top-order batsman suffers from an injury.
KKR bought the Australian pacer, Pat Cummins for a whopping amount of ₹15.5 crores f making him the most expensive foreign player ever bought in the history of the IPL. They also brought England’s World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan for ₹5.25 crore.
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Talking about the same, Star Sports’ Cricket Live show, Gambhir said, “The positive part about Pat Cummins is that you can expect him to take wickets with the new ball because he has a good swing and he bowls at good pace, he might be a concern for the death overs but he has good bowling skills and he has been with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2014 and has improved a lot since then.”
He further added, “I hope he plays all the matches and makes the team win 3-4 matches single-handedly because he has been bought for such a high amount. But if you look at the squad as a whole, there is no backup for Andre Russell, Eoin Morgan, Sunil Narine who is a one of a kind bowler. If Eoin Morgan suffers an injury, the team has no middle order overseas batsman.”
According to the former KKR skipper, the Kolkata-based franchise could have gone for Mitchell Marsh or Marcus Stoinis to give depth to their squad as an apt replacement for someone like Sunil Narine.
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Gambhir further elaborated, “The management could have gone for a Mitchell Marsh or Marcus Stoinis who would have given more depth to the squad, so you have to hope all these players are there for the entire series. If Pat Cummins suffers an injury, there is a replacement with Lockie Ferguson but with the top order there is no replacement for Kolkata Knight Riders.”
