Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders newly appointed bowling coach Bharat Arun said that the franchise would look to pick players who can adapt to all conditions during the upcoming IPL mega auction. As things stand now, the venue of the tournament slated to be held in the last week of March is yet to be decided and with 10 days left for the auction the KKR think tank are busy preparing their strategy.
“You need to pick players who can adapt to different conditions. Even before the pandemic, when you picked bowlers for home conditions, you still needed them to play seven away games in the IPL,” former India bowling coach Arun told kkr.in.
Arun said having seen most of the international players his experience would come in handy.
“Having watched most of the top players around the world up close, you have a fair idea as to what they can do. And it helps you to prepare and take your calls better, and also plan more effectively during the matches,” he said.
The two-time former champions, who finished runners-up in the last edition, have retained the West Indies all-rounders Andre Russell (Rs 12 crore) and Sunil Narine (Rs 6 crore) along with Indian duo of Venkatesh Iyer (Rs 8 crore) and Varun Chakravarthy (Rs 8 crore).
KKR are now left with a purse of Rs 48 crores for the mega auction which will see 590 players go under hammer in the two-day auction in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13. He further said they may see a shift in the IPL auction with so many premium fast bowlers out there for grabs.
“I sincerely think so, because even though a lot of people think cricket is inclined towards the batsman, I would look at it differently. “I would say that therein lies an opportunity for me as a bowler to excel. Yes, there are limitations for bowlers. But again, they know that if they execute and if they can build a little more guile around their bowling, they have a chance to be a hero,” he added.
Arun, who was credited for transforming the Indian fast bowling unit that’s feared all around the world, said they would need bowlers who can excel in all conditions.
“It has been a privilege to be a part of the Indian team before this. In a way, I was blessed to have had a group of bowlers who are so multi-talented.
“It was a conscious effort, I think, with Virat (Kohli) and Ravi (Shastri) to be the Number 1 team in the world. And to be so, it was important that we win under all conditions. Preparing this bunch of fast bowlers was our biggest challenge and the way they responded… The rest is history.”
“With the Indian side, our goal was always to be Number 1 in any conditions. To be able to achieve that objective, I think the biggest challenge was to have bowlers who could excel and who could get to 20 wickets in all conditions. We did exactly that, and that’s why we were successful.”
