Kolkata
Knight Riders made smart buys at the IPL 2022 mega auction in February. KKR
said goodbye to some of their experienced players like Dinesh Karthik and Eoin
Morgan. They brought in youngsters like Shreyas Iyer to give the side a brand
new look. KKR solved the question of captaincy by buying Iyer for Rs 12.25
crore.

Also Read: IPL 2022: Possible XI of Kolkata Knight Riders

While
buying new faces, the KKR management also bought back their players from the
previous season. Pacer Pat Cummins (Rs 7.25 crore), middle-order batter Nitish
Rana (Rs 8 crore), and young pacer Shivam Mavi (Rs 7.25 crore) are among those
old players who would again play for KKR in IPL 2022.

Here is the
SWOT analysis of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad for IPL 2022

Strengths-
Young and shrewd captain Shreyas Iyer

In
the IPL auction when KKR went after Shreyas Iyer, it was clear that he would be
the captain of the franchise. As expected, Iyer was appointed captain. Shreyas
Iyer would be taking over the reins from Eoin Morgan, who led the side in IPL
2020 and 2021. However, KKR decided to do away with Morgan and the cricketer
did not find a taker in the auction.

Iyer
has a sheer amount of IPL captaincy experience to his credit, having led the
Delhi Capitals to their first playoffs in 2019 after the 2012 season and a
maiden final in 2020 where they lost to a strong Mumbai Indians. Iyer parted
ways with DC after they had made it clear that Rishabh Pant was their
first-choice captain for IPL 2022.

Heading
into the mega auction, KKR wanted to sort out their captaincy conundrum and
they have done that ensuring the service of Iyer. It now has to be seen whether
Iyer’s leadership experience will take the franchise to unattained heights
starting this season.

Weaknesses-
No full-time experienced wicket-keeper

Kolkata
Knight Riders did not have a backup wicketkeeper since they had released Dinesh
Karthik. They have two wicket-keepers in young Sheldon Jackson with the other
being Sam Billings. Unfortunately, neither of them could be called a
first-choice keeper.

Jackson,
who represents Saurashtra in domestic cricket, is still an uncapped player.
Billings, on the other hand, is not a regular keeper. He also didn’t get an
England call-up with Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler in rank.

Therefore,
a lack of an experienced first-choice stumper could hurt the Kolkata-based
franchise in the 2022 edition with no other strong options available.

Opportunities-
Alex Hales could provide a great start

Alex
Hales is in the prime of his life as far as T20 cricket is concerned. He was
expected to attract huge bids at the IPL 2022 auction, but no team showed faith
in him. Kolkata Knight Riders managed a steal deal by buying him for his base
price of INR 1.5 crore and on paper, they have indeed made a wise investment.

Also Read: Virat Kohli looks stress-free: Glenn Maxwell warns opposition teams ahead of IPL 2022

Threats – Injury concerns for key players 

Two-time
IPL champions KKR have a balanced squad for IPL 2022. But injury concerns for
some of their key players could leave them in a spot of bother as they lack the
necessary replacements. Those include the Caribbean power-hitter Andre Russell
and the mystery spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. All these star
players have injury issues.