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The upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to begin from March 28. So far, the schedule of only first 20 matches has been released due to state elections.
Ahead of the season, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) released players Shreyas Iyer and Phil Salt. Former Team India cricketer Anil Kumble feels the franchise made a wrong decision by letting these two players leave.
“Two years ago, KKR won the IPL and lifted their third trophy. Two important cogs in that wheel were Shreyas Iyer and Phil Salt. Both played crucial roles in helping them win but KKR let both of them go,” he said.
The former cricketer further explained the reason why KKR`s move to release Iyer and Salt is a wrong decision.
“There is no consistency from them in terms of player retention. KKR took the wrong decision by letting Shreyas Iyer and Phil Salt leave (and) that has left them without an IPL-winning captain. Yes, Ajinkya Rahane is an experienced campaigner. He has led Mumbai in domestic cricket and Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. But he has not lifted the IPL title as (a) captain (yet),” said Kumble.
“Having a skipper who has won the trophy gives you an advantage. KKR let go of that advantage. They need to learn how to keep hold of their key players. Otherwise, they will keep struggling and cannot be considered favourites to win the trophy,” he added.
The first match of the tournament is scheduled to be played between the defending champions, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will kick off their campaign by playing a clash against Mumbai Indians (MI) on March 29 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
IPL 2026, Kolkata Knight Riders: Full Squad
Ajinkya Rahane (C), Manish Pandey, Sunil Narine, Rahul Tripathi, Tim Seifert (WK), Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sarthak Ranjan, Finn Allen (WK), Rachin Ravindra, Cameron Green, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kartik Tyagi, Blessing Muzarabani, Akash Deep, Prashant Solanki, Matheesha Pathirana, Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Harshit Rana, Tejasvi Singh (WK), Daksh Kamra.
(With PTI Inputs)
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