After a lot of deliberation, the Indian Premier League (IPL) governing council finally announced the schedule of IPL 2020 on Sunday, September 6. Defending Champions Mumbai Indians will face Chennai Super Kings in the mouthwatering season opener.
IPL 2020 was originally scheduled to happen in its usual time, however, the sudden outbreak of the coronavirus disrupted the entire cricket calendar. There were even discussions of the BCCI possibly scrapping off the season. The with the International Cricket Council (ICC) postponing the Men’s T20 World Cup originally scheduled to happen in Australian between October-November this year, the BCCI decided to stage the IPL in the free window.
Meanwhile, two-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders reached UAE on August 22 and were one of the earliest teams to reach the venue. They started training from August 28 in full flow looking focused to win their third IPL title. Interestingly, KKR won their second IPL title back in 2014 when the IPL was partly played at the same venue.
Kolkata Knight Riders – Full Schedule IPL 2020
FIXTURES ALERT! ⚠️
Our Knights are ready to take UAE by storm!⚡@IPL #Dream11IPL #HaiTaiyaar pic.twitter.com/isEN4twh8b
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) September 6, 2020
The Dinesh Karthik-led side will start their campaign from September 23 when they face defending champions Mumbai Indians in Abu Dhabi. KKR and MI will play eight games each in Abu Dhabi and three each in Dubai and Sharjah. KKR will also play three day games in IPL 2020.
The side looks a lot more experienced with the comeback of Eoin Morgan and Pat Cummins, both of whom were a part of the KKR outfit in the past. Morgan will shoulder responsibilities in the middle-order and will be an ally for Kartik with his astute leadership skills. Cummins, on the other hand, brings experience into the KKR bowling attack which is otherwise very inexperienced, especially n its pace attack. Cummins along with Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav will form the core of the KKR bowling attack.
Kolkata Knight Riders Squad
Dinesh Karthik (C), Andre Russell, Harry Gurney, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Siddhesh Lad, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Eoin Morgan, Varun Chakravarthy, Tom Banton, Rahul Tripathi, Chris Green, M Siddharth, Praveen Tambe, Nikhil Naik
