IPL 2020: Sunil Gavaskar picks KKR’s ideal playing eleven

Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian cricketer, picked the ideal playing eleven for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). As his four foreign players, he went for Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Eoin Morgan and Sunil Narine. The veteran didn’t go for Lockie Ferguson, Tom Banton, Chris Green and USA pace sensation Ali Khan.

He also picked Shubman Gill as Sunil Narine’s opening partner and placed Delhi’s Nitish Rana at number three. In the spin-bowling department, apart from Narine, Gavaskar went for Varun Chakravarthy, who was a part of the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) back in the 2019 edition. He even said that Varun can turn out to be a trump card for the Knights.

Varun Chakravarthy can be the fifth bowler, says Gavaskar

“Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Eoin Morgan and Sunil Narine will be my four foreign players. After that, I would like to see skipper Dinesh Karthik bat in the middle-order. I will back Nitish Rana at No.3 position. He can also bowl so he should of course be in the KKR playing XI,” Gavaskar said on Sports Tak.

“If you have three good bowlers like Pat Cummins, Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav in your XI, Andre Russell can also bowl so he would be my fourth bowler. Maybe Varun Chakravarthy can be the fifth bowler, the player who was sold for INR 8.5 crores in last year’s auction but played only one game. But this time he can play more matches and can become a trump card this year,” he added.

In the fast bowling department, Gavaskar zeroed in on Prasidh Krishna and Shivam Mavi. He left out the likes of Sandeep Warrier and Kamlesh Nagarkoti. Kuldeep Yadav didn’t have a great season last time, but Gavaskar didn’t lose faith in him. The chinaman bowler will be looking to make amends.

KKR are set to start their campaign against Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians (MI) on Wednesday, September 23 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Last year, KKR beat the Mumbai team at the Eden Gardens, but lost at the Wankhede Stadium.

Here’s Gavaskar’s KKR XI for IPL 2020: –

Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik (c), Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Shivam Mavi, Prasidh Krishna.