IPL 2019 | Carlos Brathwaite makes KKR’s batting strongest in IPL, says Simon Katich

The Kolkata-based franchise had surprised everyone at the auction last year in December when they decided to splurge mammoth Rs.5 crores on Windies’ Carlos Brathwaite. The all-rounder hasn’t been on the headlines much since his title-winning knock against England back in 2016 at the Eden Gardens.

However, Katich sounded extremely confident about Brathwaite’s batting abilities and has been of the opinion that he has boosted the franchise’s batting, calling it the “best” among the eight teams competing. Participating in IPL for the last three years, Braithwaite got a full run of 14 games only last season with Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Though he couldn’t score much, he ended with a strike rate of 168.31 and Katich believes that would help KKR massively. “The big fella here has got potentially one of the best strike rates in World T20. So in terms of our batting, it’s the strongest in the competition,” said Katich, reported PTI.

“We are blessed with a lot of powerful players like Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, which is good during the Powerplay. There is Robin , Nitish , DK [Dinesh Karthik], there is Shubman ...,” added Katich.

KKR have a batting lineup as deep as the seventh man and finding the right combination would be a problem for the management. Apart from the Indian core, KKR also have the likes of Joe Denly and Andre Russell to add quality and Katich revealed using them optimally would be the challenge.

“It depends on the opposition and where we are playing. In certain games, there will be a possibility that they will play together potentially. But throughout, our batting line up has been our real strength. Last year six of our batsmen [Karthik, Lynn, Narine, Uthappa, Russell and Nitish Rana] were inside the top-25 leading run-getters.

“So we have a very powerful batting line up. It’s great to see the big fella get out there and start swatting sixes like flies at the back end of the innings,” he stated.

The Knight Riders would be beginning their campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad at their home ground on Sunday. Apart from Brathwaite and Denly, KKR have also brought in domestic talents like Shrikant Mundhe, Nikhil Naik, Yarra Prithviraj, Sandeep Warrier, who has replaced the injured pacer Kamlesh Nagarkoti, and KC Cariappa, who replaced Shivam Mavi.