KKR team likely to have debutant after Shubman Gill fires 35-ball 76 in intra-squad match

With just three days left before the new season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) gets underway, Kolkata Knight Riders played an intrasquad match ahead of their opening match versus Sunrisers Hyderabad. And the Shubman Gill IPL 2021 preparations have begun on a fine note as he played a fabulous knock during the intrasquad match. The Eoin Morgan-led KKR team will open their campaign at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on April 11. Shubman Gill has not played any white-ball cricket since his ODI appearance against Australia in December last year.

Shubman Gill IPL 2021 preparation

The opener smashed 76 runs off just 35 balls during the KKR team intrasquad match which was played between Team Purple and Team Gold. Chasing just 88 runs to win, Gill helped his side to an easy win. The right-handed batsman's innings comprised three sixes and 11 fours as Team Gold won the match by 10 wickets. Last season, the Punjab cricketer scored 440 runs from the 14 matches that he played for Kolkata. Apart from Gill, newcomer Venkatesh Iyer and pacer Kamlesh Nagarkoti also performed well, picking up 3 wickets and 2 wickets respectively. This could open the doors for Iyer to make his KKR debut, after having a solid Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021 season.

 
KKR IPL 2021 schedule

Speaking about the KKR IPL 2021 schedule, the Eoin Morgan-led side will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in their opening match of IPL 2021 on Sunday, April 11 in Chennai. The KKR vs SRH game will get underway at 7:30 PM (IST). The two-time IPL champions will play their first three matches in Chennai, followed by two in Mumbai, four in Ahmedabad and the final five games in Bengaluru.

KKR squad

Speaking about the KKR squad for the IPL 2021, the franchise retained 17 of their star players from the previous edition of the league. During the IPL 2021 auction, the franchisee made some new additions in the form of Harbhajan Singh, Shakib Al Hasan and a couple of uncapped Indian cricketers like Vaibhav Arora and Venkatesh Iyer. Here is a look at the entire KKR team players slated to participate in the upcoming IPL 2021 season.

Eoin Morgan (c), Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy, Tim Seifert, Harbhajan Singh, Shakib Al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Vaibhav Arora, Venkatesh Iyer, Karun Nair and Ben Cutting.

Image: Kolkata Knight Riders / Twitter