Under-19 Stars to Lead The Charge for Knight Riders in IPL 2018

KKR has purse of Rs 7.6 remaining for the second day of the auction.

Kolkata Knight Riders have gone for complete revamped side this time. From the players they bought, it was evident that they were concentrating on youth.

KKR shelled out whopping Rs 9.6 crore and Rs 9.4 crore for former player Chris Lynn and Mitchell Starc respectively.

In a strange way, KKR declined an opportunity to buy back Gautam Gambhir with the ‘Right To Match’ card when Delhi bid Rs 2.8 crore for him. At such price, the former KKR captain would have been a great deal.

KKR’s gameplan was evident when they picked up two star players - batsman Shubman Gill and pacer Kamlesh Nagarkoti from the Indian under-19 team playing in New Zealand.

Apart from retaining Sunil Narine and Andre Russell, KKR bought back Robin Uthappa and Piyush Chawla. Dinesh Karthik was also another inclusion to the squad.

Starting day two exactly from where they had left, KKR continued to strengthen their youth brigrade with more young guns.

After Shubman and Nagarkoti, another under-19 star Shivam Mavi was picked up by KKR for Rs 3 crore, a price they also paid for Nagarkoti.

Later in the day, when unsold players were brought back on request, KKR picked up former Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson for his base price of Rs 2 Cr.

Here’s a look at what Kolkata Knight Rider’s squad look like for the IPL 2018.