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Cricket PlayersIPL 2021: 'I doubt he will be able to play 14 games,' Gambhir expects KKR to acquire back-up for star all-rounder
Gautam Gambhir, the former India batsman, weighed in on the team combinations the franchise he captained, the Kolkata Knight Riders, should consider heading into the auction.
The IPL 2021 may be a couple of months away but preparations have already begun as all the eight teams look to conjure their best squad ahead of the 14th edition of the tournament when the much-awaited Players' auction takes place Thursday in Chennai.
Gautam Gambhir, the former India batsman, weighed in on the team combinations the franchise he captained, the Kolkata Knight Riders, should consider heading into the auction. KKR, who were led by Gambhir to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014 reckons the team needs to have a back-up for star all-rounder Andre Russell, given his tendency of breaking down in the middle of the tournament.
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Russell has been a prolific player for KKR, scoring 1459 runs for the franchise since joining it in 2014, has been let down by multiple injuries. Last year, he hurt himself while attempting to stop a ball near the boundary and was ruled out of the next few games due to a knee injury as KKR struggled to make an upward move in the points table. If KKR are to avoid a similar scenario this time around, Gambhir reckons they need to find a backup, who can probably be a like-for-like replacement for the big-hitting all-rounder.
"One good thing is that they did not release too many players after not that successful season. KKR, they don’t need to fill a lot of gaps but they actually need a backup for Andre Russell because he has got serious injury issues. I doubt he will be able to play 14 games. Yes, you do get fit for IPL, that’s his priority at the moment but again, you need a back up for someone like him, especially given question mark over Sunil Narine’s action which was there the last time around as well," Gambhir said on Star Sports.
Unlike teams like Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore, who released quite a few players ahead of the auction, KKR have let do only five in Tom Banton, Chris Green, Nikhil Naik, Siddharth M and Siddhesh Lad. They head into the auction with a purse of ₹10.85 crore and Gambhir believes the franchise needs to invest in good, domestic players since KKR do not have the best group of Indian players.
"Couple of players here and there. Apart from Shubman Gill, I don’t see much class in that batting. Dinesh Karthik - yes, he can hurt you very badly in T20 formats but he bats really low down the order. And when you talk about him being a finisher, you can be a finisher batting at No. 3 as well which probably Karthik has done in his IPL career," Gambhir added.
"Even in the last season you see, it was their Indian batting that didn’t click. There were times when Shubman Gill looked really good. Nitish Rana contributed a bit. Karthik had a bad run in the last season but then how many players are available? So, let's see. There are probably not many gaps to fill but they need some options."
