Sunil Gavaskar wants Rahmanullah Gurbaz to be part of the Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) playing XI in IPL 2024.
Mitchell Starc, Andre Russell, and Sunil Narine are projected to be three of the four overseas players in the Knight Riders’ starting XI. Gurbaz may battle with Jason Roy for the last abroad position.
On Star Sports, Gavaskar discussed how the Kolkata Knight Riders might solve their wicketkeeping-batting conundrum, particularly if Roy was included in the XI:
“I have liked Gurbaz’s batting a lot based on whatever I have seen. He is extremely aggressive, and his batting is like a slight copy of MS Dhoni, and that is why I probably like it.”
Sunil Gavaskar
The former India captain also stated that the Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batsman’s compassionate behavior should earn him a position in the KKR starting XI.
“When the World Cup ended, after that, the job he did, he gave money to the people sleeping on the footpath. For doing that, he has to definitely be in the team for me.”
Sunil Gavaskar
Gurbaz scored 227 runs at an average of 20.64 in 11 innings in the IPL 2023. He only scored two fifties, the greatest of which was an 81-run knock off 39 deliveries against the Gujarat Titans at Eden Gardens.
KKR face tough challenge to qualify for playoffs, says Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar also commented on the Kolkata Knight Riders’ playoff prospects and whether their Indian batting quartet of Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, and Venkatesh Iyer will have to step up if the pitch at Eden Gardens is slow and favours spinners.
“Not going to be easy (playoff qualification). They have to because they have got the experience, not only of playing on those kinds of pitches, of having played in the IPL for a while.”
Sunil Gavaskar
The cricketer-turned-commentator also mentioned that KKR’s four renowned Indian batsmen, namely Rinku, have been performing well for the team recently.
“I think that experience does come in very handy because you know what the pressure is and you know how to handle it. All these four players have done it exceptionally well. Rinku Singh, in particular, in the last year or so has been tremendous.”
Sunil Gavaskar
Shreyas Iyer missed the last season of the IPL because to back difficulties. Rinku (474), Nitish (413) and Venkatesh (404) were KKR’s top three run scorers in the IPL 2023.