Aakash Chopra picks Varun Chakravarthy as Kolkata Knight Riders’ ‘Impact Player’ for the upcoming IPL

It will be a very important season for Kolkata Kinght Riders as they aim for their third title this season. There are plenty of issues for the Knights as they have already lost their captain, Shreyas Iyer due to back injury and have appointed Nitish Rana as their stand in captain.

However they still don’t look as intimidating as they once were. Cricketer turned expert Aakash Chopra feels that Varun Chakravarthy can be the ‘impact player’ for the team this season. Chopra also believes that KKR have a fantastic bowling lineup with a lot of variations. However their batting has been slashed down by the absence of their primary Indian star in Iyer.

Chopra feels that KKR may use Varun as an Impact Player when the conditions are conducive to spin as they would not need his batting. He highlights that they also have good depth options in Vaibhav Arora and Kulwant Khejroliya who can move the new ball and can also be valuable Impact Player assets.

“They have options in bowling. You can use either Vaibhav Arora or Kulwant Khejrolia as the Impact Player. If the ball is turning, you can use your spinner as the Impact Player. I feel Varun Chakravarthy can also be the Impact Player because you won’t need his batting,” Chopra stated on his YouTube channel.

Chopra was very impressive with KKR’s bowling options. He feels that in Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur, they have two very potent pacers. “Umesh Yadav bowled extremely well with the new ball last year. I expect the same, at least on the home ground because the ball will swing there. So Umesh Yadav is one and along with him in the Indian bowling you have Shardul Thakur.”

He also lauds their spin twins in Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy and feels that Anukul Roy can also chip in if required. “You have two spinners in the form of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine and if you want, you can play Anukul Roy as well. So this base is covered, you are absolutely fine.”

Varun picked only six wickets in 11 matches last season whereas Narine was economical but he also could only manage nine scalps in 14 games. Mystery spinner Suyash Sharma can also be introduced later in the season if things are not working out for Varun.

While Chopra understands Russell’s concern with fitness, he still feels that there’s no one quite like Russell. He feels that a player like him can blow the opposition away on their day. “There is always an issue about Andre Russell’s fitness but Andre Russell is Andre Russell – rule him out at your own peril. He is a gun player who can actually take the attack to the opposition and blow away the opposition.”

Russell had a productive season in 2022 when he snapped 17 wickets and scored 335 runs for KKR at a strike rate of 174.47.

Overall the middle-order in batting looks too dependent on the likes of Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh and Russell. Iyer was the player who held them together at no.3 but now Chandrakant Pandit will have to chalk out ideas to overcome disadvantage.