IPL 2024 Kolkata Knight Riders squad, KKR match schedule: Will this be Rinku Singh's season to stake claim among IPL royalty?

IPL 2024 Kolkata Knight Riders squad, KKR match schedule: Breaking banks as well as records was the headline that the Kolkata Knight Riders made during the IPL 2024 Auction as they picked up Australian pacer Mitchell Starc for a record Rs 24.75 crore.

Beyond the massive shadows cast by the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, KKR has emerged as a major competitor in the history of the Indian Premier League.

However, after their talisman Gautam Gambhir left the franchise, Knight Riders weren't able to enjoy that amount of success apart from the 2021 season, where the squad made a brilliant comeback but eventually lost to Chennai Super Kings in the summit clash.

Gambhir led the KKR squad to both of their IPL trophies back in 2012 and 2014, and now he is back at the franchise as a mentor and will work alongside head coach Chandrakant Pandit to bring those glory days back at Eden Gardens.

Starc is coming in as KKR's main bowler, who can help the squad in the powerplay as well as at the death, which is vital for the team's success this season.

KKR has leaked most runs during the powerplay as well as in the death overs, which Starc will be expected to fix.

Apart from that, the team will also get their captain, Shreyas Iyer, back in the squad after he missed the previous campaign due to injuries.

Iyer's presence adds bolster to the middle order formed by Nitish Rana and an explosive Rinku Singh. They'll be followed by heavy hitters like Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, who have peppered the boundaries on a  regular basis.

The only conundrum that KKR might face is how to settle in for a good opening combination — they have had 12 combinations in the last two years.

Apart from that, the team is quite balanced, with a good mix of spin as well as pace in their bowling department and sensible as well as heavy hitters in their batting department.

It is just how well the opening pair will deliver, as well as how Iyer will manage those Starc overs across the innings, that will determine a major chunk of KKR's success this season.

IPL 2024: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Captain and Coach

Shreyas Iyer will lead the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) side this season with Chandrakant Pandit as their head coach.

IPL 2024: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Home Ground

The Eden Gardens, Kolkata will be KKR's home ground

Indian Premier League 2024: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Full Squad, Players List

Kolkata Knight Riders, KKR IPL 2024 squad: Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Jason Roy, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, KS Bharat, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Gus Atkinson, Sakib Hussain.

IPL 2024, Kolkata Knight Riders match schedule, Full IPL 2024 match schedule for KKR

• KKR vs SRH—March 23, Kolkata at 7:30 PM
• RCB vs KKR— March 29, Bengaluru at 7:30 PM
• DC vs KKR— April 3, Vizag at 7:30 PM