New Delhi: Young batsman Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s explosive knocks gave Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) management and head coach Abhishek Nayar a headache during their pre-season intra-squad match at Eden Gardens on Friday.
The 21-year-old batsman, who is ranked No. 3, smashed an astonishing unbeaten 103 off just 55 balls with nine fours and five sixes in an innings at a strike rate of 187.27. His knock helped the Purple Knights chase 200 in 19.2 overs.
Three-time IPL champions KKR will start their IPL 2026 season against Mumbai Indians on March 29 at the Wankhede Stadium.
Nayar admitted that finalizing the right combination remains KKR’s biggest pre-season challenge with multiple opening options and a reshuffled squad.
After a disappointing 2025 season, KKR overhauled their lineup, adding big names like Cameron Green, Finn Allen, Tim Seifert and Rachin Ravindra, but are yet to lock in the batting order.
“I’m not good at predicting what may go wrong, but I can tell you, I don’t know how the game is going to play out, but I think initially, it’s about making sure we’re healthy for the game on March 29,” Nayar said in the team’s first media interaction of the season.
KKR, who finished eighth with just five wins last year, will also field a new starting pairing in the absence of Rahmanullah Gubaz and Quinton de Kock.
New Zealand’s explosive duo of Allen and Seifert are the front-runners, having recently put up a record 117 runs at Eden Gardens to eliminate South Africa in the T20 World Cup semi-finals.
Sunil Narine will also start, which is a certainty in the starting line-up, and picking the remaining three overseas players from a line-up that includes Green, Allen, Seifert, Ravindra and potentially Mathias Patialana poses another selection dilemma.
“I think that’s the priority now, making sure we have the right combinations. Because I always believe that when you have new combinations in the IPL, the key is to make sure your team is at the top, yes, everyone is in form, but to put them in a good enough position for them to be successful.
“So I think as a team, that’s going to be our first challenge and the rest we’ll see,” Nayar said.
KKR’s midfield woes last season – where Nos. 4 to 8 failed to deliver consistently – remain a concern. However, Nayar stressed that past performance will have little bearing on the upcoming campaign.
He cited Sanju Samson as an example of how the wicketkeeper-batsman overcame his poor form ahead of the T20 World Cup and played a key role in India’s journey to the title.
“We saw that with Sanju Samson in the World Cup as well. It’s about being in that moment in this game. So we very much want our players to start strong.
“If you are in good form, your name doesn’t matter in this format of the game. I think form is more important than what happened in the past,” he added.
“I have always believed that T20 cricket is a game of momentum. It is a game of form. So what happened a year ago is not important for what is going to happen.
“I think what’s really important is how our kids perform this season. If everybody’s at the top of their game, you’d expect this team to do as well as they did the year before. So I truly believe that what happened in the past isn’t that important,” he said.
