Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Young batter Angkrish Raghuvanshi has given Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) management and head coach Abhishek Nayar a welcome selection headache with his explosive hitting in a pre-season intra-squad match at Eden Gardens on Friday.Batting at No. 3, the 21-year-old smashed a stunning unbeaten 103 off just 55 balls, an innings laced with nine fours and five sixes, at a strike rate of 187.27. His knock powered Purple Knights to a successful chase of 200 in 19.2 overs.
Three-time IPL champions KKR will begin their IPL 2026 campaign against Mumbai Indians on March 29 at the Wankhede Stadium.With multiple opening options and a revamped squad, Nayar admitted that finalising the right combinations remains KKR’s biggest challenge ahead of the season.Having overhauled their squad after a disappointing 2025 campaign, KKR have added big names such as Cameron Green, Finn Allen, Tim Seifert and Rachin Ravindra, but are yet to lock in their batting order.“I’m terrible at predicting what can go wrong, but I can just tell you, I don’t know how the tournament will pan out, but I think initially, it’s making sure we get a fit playing XI come (March) 29th,” Nayar said during the team’s first media interaction of the season.KKR, who finished eighth last year with just five wins, are also set to field a new opening combination in the absence of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Quinton de Kock.The explosive New Zealand duo of Allen and Seifert — who recently put together a record 117-run stand at Eden Gardens to eliminate South Africa in a T20 World Cup semifinal — are among the frontrunners.With Sunil Narine, who also opens, a certainty in the XI, choosing the remaining three overseas players from a pool that includes Green, Allen, Seifert, Ravindra and potentially Matheesha Pathirana presents another selection dilemma.“I think that is a priority right now, making sure we get our combinations right. Because I always believe when you have new combinations in this IPL, it’s about making sure you get your team peaking, yes, everyone in form, but positioning them well enough for them to succeed.“So I think that as a group will be our first challenge and the rest we’ll see as it comes,” Nayar said.KKR’s middle-order struggles last season — where positions 4 to 8 failed to deliver consistently — remain a concern. However, Nayar emphasised that past performances will have little bearing on the upcoming campaign.He cited Sanju Samson as an example, pointing to how the wicketkeeper-batter overcame poor form before the T20 World Cup and went on to play crucial knocks in India’s title-winning run.“We saw that with Sanju Samson in the World Cup as well. It’s about being there at that moment in this tournament. So we’re very hopeful that our players can start strong.“And if you’re in good form, it doesn’t matter what your name is in this format of the game. I think form counts a lot more than what’s happened in the past,” he added.“I’ve always believed T20 cricket is a game of momentum. It’s a game of form. So what happened a year ago doesn’t really matter as to what’s going to happen.“I think something that is going to be really important is the kind of form our boys hit this season. And if everyone is at the peak of their prowess, you expect this team to do really well like they did a year before last. So I honestly believe that it’s not so much of what happened in the past,” he said.
