Published 18:04 IST, January 21st 2021
Head coach Brendon McCullum vows KKR will be 'very competitive' in upcoming IPL 2021
The former New Zealand skipper then added that they were not far away last time and is sure that this group will be very competitive this season.
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Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Brendon McCullum has vowed that the former champions will be very competitive in the 14th edition of the IPL. KKR have retained most of their players from the previous edition for IPL 2021.
'Will be very competitive this year': Brendon McCullum
Taking to the micro-blogging site, 'Bazz' wrote he is pleased to know that the Kolkata team management has been able to retain the majority of their players for the upcoming season of the IPL. The former New Zealand skipper then added that they were not far away last time and is sure that this group will be very competitive this season.
At the same time, the explosive Kiwi batsman also expressed gratitude to the players who have been released for serving the franchise as well as for the efforts that they had put in last season and then wished them all luck for their future endeavours.
Pleased that we have been able to retain majority of our @KKRiders for the upcoming @IPL season. We weren’t far away last time and I’m sure this group will be very competitive this year. Thanks to the guys who were released for your efforts last season. We wish you well. 💜
— Brendon McCullum (@Bazmccullum) January 21, 2021
The players released by KKR for IPL 2021
The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) retained as many as 17 cricketers from their squad that featured in the Indian Premier League 2020 (IPL 2020) season. While the franchise CEO Venky Mysore defended their plans of retaining a majority of players from their “core group”, several of their fans seem to disagree with their decision. Mysore said that they are “extremely happy to retain” most of the players from their squad and they are excited about their prospects for the upcoming IPL 2021 season.
The likes of Tom Banton, Chris Green, Nikhil Naik, Siddharth M., Siddhesh Lad, and Harry Gurney have been released by the two-time winners.
Here's the list of retained players for the 2021 season:
Captain Eoin Morgan is set to lead KKR in the upcoming IPL 2021 season after he took over the captaincy from Dinesh Karthik in the previous edition of the tournament. Apart from Morgan and Karthik, KKR veterans like Andre Russell and Sunil Narine also retained their spots in the KKR roster. Here is a look at the entire KKR list of retained players for the much-awaited season.
Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, and Tim Seifert.
image credits: IPLT20.com
18:01 IST, January 21st 2021