Former Indian cricket team batter Navjot Singh Sidhu is well known for his witty comments and this time, he came up with a sensational praise for Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Shreyas Iyer. Sidhu was all praise for the India batter and he said that Shreyas is like “Shahid Afridi with brains”. Shreyas will be leading KKR in the IPL 2024 and it will be the perfect opportunity for him to prove his mettle against quality opponents after being snubbed for the BCCI central contracts. Sidhu went on to say that he does not see Shreyas playing in the first gear and lauded his ability to adapt to situation while batting.
“Rishabh Pant, I am a huge fan of his. Because he has his own style. You can have your role models. But his own style makes him unique. His sweeps, his pulls and to play on the up in England. To come out of Injury and play in the IPL is commendable,” Sidhu said on Star Sports.
“To have the tenacity to come out of a difficult situation it’ll make you 10 times stronger.”
“Shreyas Iyer is like a bulldozer. He reminds me of a better Shahid Afridi. An Afridi with better brains. He adapts to the situation,“ the former India batter added.
Meanwhile, KKR’s most successful leader Gautam Gambhir is back in his second innings as a mentor. “This is your franchise, make it or break it,” team principal owner Shah Rukh Khan has told Gambhir. Under the former India cricketer’s captaincy, KKR had a golden run from 2011-2017 — two IPL titles, five playoffs and a runners-up finish in the now defunct Champions League T20 tournament.
The biggest signing of this IPL is with KKR, and by acquiring Starc at a record sum of Rs 24.75-crore, the left-arm quick will be under huge pressure to perform.
His spell in power-play and the death overs will be the key. Starc and Andre Russell are the only two experienced pacers in KKR’s ranks, and with no like-for-like replacements for them, their workload management will be crucial.
KKR boast of a star-studded top-order batting lineup in Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Phil Salt, Venkatesh Iyer and Shreyas to go with the Russell-Rinku Singh firepower at the death.
But the Gambhir-mentored side will rely heavily on the home conditions to offer some spin so as to give the likes of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Suyash Sharma some assistance.
(With PTI inputs)
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