Kolkata Knight Riders will be one of the teams looking forward to the IPL 2023 auction. The auction will be held in Kochi on December 16, with several players going under the hammer. Each of the 10 teams will then figure out exactly which players they would like to have on their respective team.
In addition to their remaining purse, each team will be given another five crores to spend this year. According to a BCCI official, the total scholarship will be between 90-95 crores.
The teams have been asked by the BCCI to submit the list of players to release the franchises by November 15th. All teams are expected to release the list of additional or unused players so they can go to the IPL 2023 auction to fill in the gaps.
After reaching the final in 2021, Kolkata Knight Riders led by Shreyas Iyer finished seventh in IPL 2022. They had a chance until the last game they played against Lucknow Super Giants. A narrow loss of only two runs prevented the team from making it to the last four.
KKR is expected to cast Aaron Finch, Mohammad Nabi and Chamika Karunatarne, among others. While Nabi and Karunaratne didn’t play a single game for the franchise last year, Finch scored just 86 runs in five games at an average of 17.20.
Under a new captain, the team is looking to reach new heights and so the upcoming auction will be an important one to rebuild the team. In this article, we look at three players that KKR can target in the IPL 2023 auction.
IPL 2023 Auction: 3 Players Can Target Kolkata Knight Riders
1) Alex Hales
KKR need an offensive overseas opener and they will be eyeing Alex Hales. Kolkata brought in Alex Hales at the last auction, but the English opener had withdrawn due to bubble fatigue reasons. The Knight Riders then managed to bring in Aaron Finch, but he didn’t have a good season with the Knights.
Fresh off a memorable T20 World Cup campaign, Kolkata would definitely get a hold of him if Hales is available for selection. He has traveled around the world to play T20 cricket and so far he has only played six games in the IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2018.
Also Read: IND vs ENG: In terms of giving a young player a chance to go abroad and have a crack, why not? – Anil Kumble
