Sunil Narine
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra feels that two-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champion, Kolkata Knight Riders can opt to drop Sunil Narine from their playing XI in the impending 14th season of the tournament if the West Indies all-rounder fails to live up to the expectation.
Narine made his IPL debut for KKR in 2012 and played an integral part in the team's twin victorious run. In nine seasons hence, he has scored 892 runs and picked 127 wickets.
However, Narine incurred a forgettable IPL 2020 season where he failed to perform as an opener before he was dropped down the order. He managed only 27 runs as an opener in the first four games. Later, his bowling action also came under the radar before he returned with a new action, but remained ineffective.
Aakash feels that KKR can drop Narine from their XI for IPL 2021 in a bid to accomodate better options.
“They should just open up to the idea of dropping Sunil Narine, if things are not working out. He is a big player but his bowling has not been that sharp since questions were raised about his action,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
Aakash then went on to reveal his playing XI for KKR for the 14th season.
“I will have Tripathi as an opener with Gill. I will keep Nitish Rana at No.3, Morgan at No.4 and Dinesh Karthik at No.5. This is your top five. Now you keep Andre Russell at No.6. If you keep him at No.6, the slight question will be whom will you bat at No.7?.
“I would say try with Pat Cummins,” said Chopra. “If you keep Pat Cummins at No.7, you will have four proper bowlers after that. Varun Chakravarthy and Prasidh Krishna can be there in that. That makes it two,” Chopra said.
KKR will open their campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on April 11.
