Riders banking on Chandrakant Pandit’s coaching acumen to reclaim IPL title

KOLKATA: Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders would bank on Chandrakant Pandit’s tactical acumen as they fight injury and a thin on quality batting line-up in their bid to reclaim the coveted IPL title after nine years.

In the IPL mini-auction in December last year, KKR bought eight players with Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan being their biggest buy at Rs 1.5 crore.

Besides, KKR also purchased Namibia all-rounder David Wiese for Rs 1 crore and in-form Tamil Nadu keeper-batter N Jagadeesan for Rs 90 lakh.

Vaibhav Arora (Rs 60 lakh), Suyash Sharma (Rs 20 lakh), Kulwant Khejroliya (Rs 20 lakh), and Mandeep Singh (Rs 50 lakh) were KKR’s other

The West Indian pair of Andre Russels and Sunil Narine has delivered in the past but at times inconsistency has been their bane.

Over the years, the Kolkata outfit has been focussing on strengthening its all-round department and this time it is no different.

And in Shakib, Weise and Venkatesh Iyer they do have quality with potential of translating that into performance.

But the main focus would be on Pandit, who replaced Brendon McCullum as KKR coach.

It will be Pandit’s maiden stint in IPL after having tasted success in the domestic arena with six-Ranji-winning sides with three different state units, including Mumbai, Vidarbha cricket and Madhya Pradesh.