Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra added that the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have one of the best spin-bowling attacks heading into IPL 2024. Varun Chakravarthy, with 20 wickets at an economy rate of 8.14, was KKR’s most successful bowler last season as well. Sunil Narine (11) and Suyash Sharma (10) were their second and third-highest wicket-takers respectively as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “As soon as I think about spin, I don’t know why, but my mind goes towards Kolkata. Kolkata’s strategy will be to make spin-friendly pitches. They have Sunil Narine, who always plays in the XI. He is not a wicket-taker, it’s not that he takes four-wicket hauls, but he is always economical. After that, they have an amazing bowler in Varun Chakaravarthy whose stature grew suddenly last year and he was absolutely stellar. Then they have Suyash Sharma. So these are three frontline spinners who will play in the XI for sure.”
“You can’t ignore Rajasthan. They have Yuzi (Yuzvendra) Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin, and along with them Adam Zampa. Their problem is they aren’t able to play the three of them together. They keep finding a third spinner. They played Murugan Ashwin a lot and played Zampa very little. They go towards an overseas fast bowler and search for a batter at times. They have India’s No. 1 and No. 2 type of spinners in Yuzi Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin. For some strange reason, Yuzi Chahal does not have very good numbers at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
However, he also added that it might be slightly difficult to play with the Australian leg-spinner in the playing XI. He again shared that while Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer and Trent Boult are virtual certainties, the franchise spent ₹7.40 crore to acquire Rovman Powell at the auction as well.
