Phil Salt and Mitchell Starc has been handed IPL debut caps for Kolkata Knight Rides. The Purple army has fielded a strong side with Rahmanullah Gurbaz missing out from the Playing XI. Shreyas Iyer is also back in the team as the captain after missing last season. However, all eyes will be on England’s Phil Salt as the destructive player will slot in the middle order and keep wickets.
Kolkata Knight Riders begin their IPL 2024 journey as they host Sunrisers Hyderabad. At the toss, Shreyas Iyer has clarified that Phil Salt, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Mitchell Starc will be the 4 overseas players in the team.
“Feel fantastic (talking about his recovery from back injury). I have been training well and played a few games as well. The spinners have been bowling tremendously over the past few seasons and all of them are lethal in their own way. I see a bit of dryness on this wicket and hopefully it will help them. Salt, Narine, Russell and Starc are playing today,” Shreyas Iyer said during the Toss.
Kolkata Knight Riders Playing XI: Philip Salt(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy
Kolkata Knight Riders Subs: Suyash, Pandey, Arora, Raghuvanshi and Gurbaz.
KKR has fielded a strong team. The batting setup looks strong and aggressive. Phil Salt and Venkatesh Iyer will form a strong and aggressive duo at the top. Skipper Iyer comes in at number 3 and will be accompanied by Nitish Rana.
The middle order consists of 2 destructive finishers in the form of Rinku Singh and Andre Russell. Sunil Narine and Ramandeep Singh will also be anchors at the lower order. Mitchell Starc will lead the pace attack with Harshit Rana.
Varun Chakravarthy and Narine will look after the spin unit. There is a high possibility of Suyash Sharma coming on later as an impact player.