5 Players Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) should release ahead of IPL 2020 Auction

The way Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) started this season of the IPL, it looked like they would end up earning a top-four spot. However, things went haywire after the first five games and all of KKR’s weaknesses were exposed. They lost six games in a row and they were knocked out at the end of the league stage.

However, a couple of back to back wins has given them hope once again. But it doesn’t hide the fact that KKR have relied heavily on a few players to get the job done. Andre Russell has been the biggest factor behind most of KKR’s wins this season. The batting blew hot, blew cold as they were inconsistent and a lot of pressure fell on Russell to bail them out.

They were also found out in the pace bowling department. KKR play at the Eden Gardens whose nature has changed to a fast and bouncy track over the last few years. Hence, KKR lacked depth in the pace department as well. Hence, as the 2019 edition is coming to a close, we look at five KKR players who should be released after this season.

1. Robin Uthappa

Robin Uthappa has been one of the faces of Kolkata Knight Riders ever since he joined the team in 2014. He won the Orange Cap in his very first season with the team (2014) as they went on to lift the title in that season as well. Since that season, he’s scored at least 350 runs in every season.

He was tipped to be one of the crucial members of the side this year as well. However, this season has been different. After a couple of decent scores at the start of the season, he started to fade away. Hence, Uthappa was dropped after the first nine games. Before getting dropped, he had scores of 11, 28, 0 and 9 and only the 11 he scored came while striking over 100.

Thus, the Karnataka batsman has slowly started to fade away and looks like he is way past his prime. Moreover, Uthappa likes opening the batting but that cannot happen with Shubman Gill, Chris Lynn, Nitish Rana and Sunil Narine around. Hence, KKR should release Uthappa and try to blood in some fresh talent and bolster the middle-order.