Former India batsman and two-time Indian Premier League trophy-winning captain Gautam Gambhir believes there is a "chink" in Kolkata Knight Riders' squad. The two-time champions spent money on buying Shakib al Hasan, Harbhajan Singh, and Karun Nair, apart from a slew of uncapped players at the auctions on Thursday.
But Gambhir pointed out that KKR are still short in a particular department for the upcoming season, and it may put them in trouble.
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"Indian batting is a huge problem for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Apart from Shubman Gill and to a certain extent Nitish Rana, I don't see so much of quality. Dinesh Karthik bats too low in the batting lineup, he has had a horrible season last time around," Gambhir said on Star Sports while reviewing the IPL 2021 Auction.
"That is the reason they will be very much dependent on Eoin Morgan and Andre Russell. Andre Russell needs to fire if they need to be competitive. They need to win the tournament, it's been 6-7 years they haven't won the tournament. You can look very good on paper but they haven't been that consistent," Gambhir added.
"Had they probably had a little better Indian batting lineup, probably someone like a Kedar Jadhav, yes they went for someone like an experienced Karun Nair. But Kedar Jadhav could have given them that little bit of firepower in the middle order. They have got Rahul Tripathi and Karun Nair but Karun Nair is probably more suited to bat at the top of the order. So from that point of view, I feel a little bit of chink in the armour," he further Gambhir.
{{/usCountry}}"Had they probably had a little better Indian batting lineup, probably someone like a Kedar Jadhav, yes they went for someone like an experienced Karun Nair. But Kedar Jadhav could have given them that little bit of firepower in the middle order. They have got Rahul Tripathi and Karun Nair but Karun Nair is probably more suited to bat at the top of the order. So from that point of view, I feel a little bit of chink in the armour," he further Gambhir.
{{/usCountry}}"Who are they going to open with? Are they going to open with Sunil Narine again with Shubman Gill? Do they have that much of firepower at the top of the order because Eoin Morgan at 4, Dinesh Karthik at 5 and Andre Russell is still the middle order," Gambhir signed off.