5 REASONS WHY KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS CAN DEFEND THEIR IPL CROWN

KKR did miss out on a few star names like Shreyas Iyer, Mitchell Starc and Phil Salt, but they have managed to pull themselves out with decent replacements. Champions KKR, who have won the...

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Kolkata Knight Riders have majority of their core coming into the 2025 Indian Premier League season. This is a massive plus for a side who are well coached and have variety in their ranks. The Knights named seasoned Ajinkya Rahane as skipper and Dwayne Bravo as a mentor. So this seems to be pretty interesting for everyone rooting for the Eastern giants. KKR did miss out on a few star names like Shreyas Iyer, Mitchell Starc and Phil Salt, but they have managed to pull themselves out with decent replacements. Champions KKR, who have won the illustrious trophy on three counts, could be backed as one of the favourites. They retained six players ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction to give us a primary look at their main playing XI. At the IPL 2025 auction, KKR bought back most of their players, barring 4-5 important names. It's a group which is settled and the owners didn't do anything fancy to make wholesome changes rather they have stuck to a winning team.

The mega auction saw the Knights break the banks to sign back Venkatesh Iyer. Once KKR missed out on Shreyas, they perhaps identified Venkatesh as the player who could lead them. He came in for a whopping INR 23.75 crore. It will be a crucial season for the Madhya Pradesh player to showcase his credentials as a potential leader. Venkatesh did well for the Knights last season especially during the Qualifier 1 and final.

KKR have their core set of players and the addition of seasoned figures such as Quinton de Kock and Anrich Nortje make them a solid side that can threaten teams. KKR will be counting on consistent performances, as seen last year. The bowling is what needs to strike out and if they match the standards set last season, a promising campaign would then await them.