Opinion: KKR fails to fill Gautam Gambhir's shoes at IPL auction

Two times Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday left the auction room with the least number of players in a squad for the upcoming XIth season.

The franchise invested all its money on young talents, which from the outside looks favourable but may turn out to be critical for one of the best performing teams.

Starting with its retention policy, KKR surprisingly went with Sunil Narine for Rs 12.5 cr and Andre Russell for Rs 8.5 cr, leaving its captain Gautam Gambhir, who led the team to great heights in all its previous seasons.

Gambhir had spent 7 years with the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned franchise and, according to reports, he himself wished not to be retained, owing to some undisclosed challenge.

The southpaw was laterpurchased by Delhi Daredevils at Rs 2.8 crore.

His departure is the most crucial gap which KKR failed to fill.

KKR came with Rs 59 crore and emptied the purse on just 19 cricketers, with six players ending up as millionaires

During the two days of the auction, KKR had bid for several marquee players including Mitchell Starc (9.4 cr) and Chris Lynn (9.6 cr) but overlooked the leadership figure which other 7 franchises had it on top.

KKR came with Rs 59 crore and emptied the purse on just 19 cricketers, with six players ending up as millionaires.

The best buy of the team was Chris Lynn, who needs no introduction as when in-form he is a one-man army.

However, they didn't pick any of the popular candidates for the skipper's job in the auction as they didn't have enough money to spend on it.

Kolkata invested a lot in young uncapped talent, with India U-19 stars Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi making their way to the franchise.

Apart from the two speedsters, KKR also bought U-19 top-order batsman Shubman Gill who scored three fifties in four matches at the U-19 World Cup.

There are other two visible areas in which the team is lacking.

One is the absence of a current Indian fast bowler in the line-up, a role that was fulfilled by Umesh Yadav in the previous seasons.

Second, the lack of an experienced Indian middle-order batsman has also not gone unnoticed.

All in all, the team bidders made some insane selections, which may harm the team's performance, particularly in absence of a leader to lead to the young squad.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)