IPL 2021: Kolkata Knight Riders full squad and player stats

Retained players: Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins, Tim Seifert, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Kuldeep Yadav, Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Sandeep Warrier, Prasidh Krishna, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy.

Released Players: Tom Banton, Chris Green, Siddhesh Lad, Nikhil Naik, M Siddharth, Ali Khan and Harry Gurney

New Additions: Shakib Al Hasan, Harbhajan Singh, Ben Cutting, Karun Nair, Pawan Negi, Venkatesh Iyer, Sheldon Jackson, Vaibhav Arora.

England's white-ball captain was picked by Kolkata Knight Riders for INR 5.25 Crore in the last season as part of their leadership group and to support Dinesh Karthik in the field. However, in the middle of the tournament Karthik gave away captaincy and Morgan was named the new KKR skipper. Even though the team couldn't qualify the team did show a little promise under him bringing a similar mindset from the England team to KKR.

Morgan had a more than a decent season with the bat as he amassed 418 runs in the 14 games he played at an average of 41.8 striking at 138.4.

Dinesh Karthik's own form may have dictated the captaincy change decision as the runs were not coming from the veteran wicket-keeper batsman's bat in the last season. Whether it was him playing out of position or trying to play a game that didn't come naturally to him, Karthik could score only one fifty and a total of 169 runs. However, a good form in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy leading Tamil Nadu to the title may have done a lot of good to his confidence.

Another reason for KKR's inconsistency last year was star all-rounder Andre Russell's form. Russell single-handedly almost took KKR in the playoffs of the IPL 2019 as he scored 510 runs in 14 games he played. But in the 2020 season injuries hampered his performance a lack of form meant the men in purple weren't getting the finish they get from Russell and hence the desired scores.

In 10 games, Russell scored just 117 runs at an average of 13 and took just six wickets at an economy of 9.72.

The West Indian mystery spinner Sunil Narine though picked just five wickets in the 10 games he played, performed the role of containment as he gave away runs at less than 8 in the 10 games he played. With one innings of 64 runs, Narine had a quiet year with the bat as well as he scored just 121 runs at 13.44. The star player will be hoping for a much-improved show in this season for the Morgan-led side.

KKR broke the bank for the No 1 bowler in Tests in the world, Pat Cummins last year as he was bought by the franchise for a whopping sum of 15.5 crores. Cummins had a scratchy start to his campaign as he was taken to cleaners in the first game as he gave away 49 runs in his three overs. However, he slowly and gradually came back to his best as the UAE wickets helped the seamers a bit and he became the side's designated powerplay wicket-taker.

Cummins took a four-fer in his side's last but the most important game against the Rajasthan Royals but despite the win, KKR couldn't advance into the finals.

Shubman Gill, who was now officially the first-choice opener for the side had a pretty decent season with the bat as he amassed 440 runs at an average of almost 34 including three fifty-plus scores. However, the youngster drew criticism for his strike rate of 117 for the length of the tournament as many suggested that him taking time at the start was putting pressure on the middle-order batsmen to get going from the outset.

KKR unearthed the star in Varun Chakravarthy in the last season. Varun didn't start in the competition, however, as soon as he played his first game, he became the chief wicket-taker for the side in no time. In 13 games he took 17 wickets at an economy of 6.94 with best figures of 5/20 against the last year's runners-up Delhi Capitals. So much so, as the tournament came to its fag end, Chakravarthy was the lead spinner of the KKR side.

The dashing left-hander from Delhi, Nitish Rana, like the team had an inconsistent season as he scored 80s for fun but was also getting out for ducks for too many times for his liking. In the 14 games, he played, he amassed 352 runs with three scores of 50-plus at a strike rate of 138. However, it was the average where he lagged behind as he scored these runs at just 25.

The senior statesman off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who missed out in the last season owing to personal reasons put his name up in the auction and expressed his desire to play after he was released by the Chennai Super Kings. He was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the wee hours of the auction at his base price. But, given the lack of experience in KKR's spin department, Bhajji with his experience of 160 IPL games and 150 wickets could well be a sure-short starter in the KKR line-up alongside Chakravarthy.

(Images: BCCI, IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders)