‘Start with Jason Roy and have Manish Pandey….’ – Irfan Pathan on KKR’s squad analysis ahead of IPL 2024

Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan has recently talked about the KKR squad for the upcoming IPL 2024, which is slated to take place in mid-March. Notably, KKR was only able to win the title twice, and they are still searching for their first win since 2016.

However, Irfan Pathan feels that Mitchell Starc, Andree Russell, and Sunil Narine will be the three overseas players out of the four in the franchise for the IPL 2024. The former India all-rounder feels anyone will play from Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Jason Roy.

“They will have to play Mitchell Starc, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine. These three are confirmed. If those (turning) pitches are there, Narine has to play. Gautam (Gambhir) likes it that way. He likes playing on the slow pitches and that is where he became champion a couple of times. Then they will have to leave out either Jason Roy or Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Only one of them can play. If they want to go with a wicketkeeper, then Jason Roy has to sit out. Then Gurbaz will play,” Irfan Pathan said on Star Sports.

Start with Jason Roy and have Manish Pandey open the innings: Irfan Pathan

Meanwhile, the well-renowned cricket commentator feels that Manish Pandey can also open the innings for them, along with Jason Roy. The cricketer-turned-analyst also talked about the batting positions of KS Bharat and Venkatesh Iyer in the squad.

“If not, what they can do is, start with Jason Roy and have Manish Pandey open the innings. Manish Pandey can actually play that role. With his experience, he can play anywhere, or else Venkatesh Iyer can bat up the order. Maybe Srikar Bharat can actually bat at No. 3 or something,” he added further.

Meanwhile, the Kolkata-based franchise finished seventh in IPL 2023. They bought Starc (₹24.75 crore), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (₹2 crore), Sherfane Rutherford (₹1.5 crore), and Gus Atkinson (₹1 crore) at the auction to complement their four retained overseas players — Russell, Narine, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, and Jason Roy.