New Delhi: Young batsman Angkrish Raghuvanshi has given Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) management and head coach Abhishek Nair a welcome selection headache with his explosive knock in the pre-season intra-squad match at the Eden Gardens on Friday.Batting at No.3, the 21-year-old scored a stunning unbeaten 103 off just 55 balls at a strike rate of 187.27, an innings that included nine fours and five sixes. His innings helped the Purple Knights chase down 200 in 19.2 overs.
Three-time IPL champions KKR will begin their IPL 2026 campaign on March 29 against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium.With multiple opening options and a revamped squad, Nair admitted that finalizing the right combination ahead of the season is KKR’s biggest challenge.After revamping their squad after a disappointing 2025 campaign, KKR have included big names like Cameron Greene, Finn Allen, Tim Seifert and Rachin Ravindra, but are yet to be locked into their batting order.“I’m terrible at predicting what could go wrong, but I can only tell you, I don’t know how the tournament will end, but I think initially, it’s making sure we have a fit playing XI come March 29,” Nair said during the team’s first media interaction of the season.KKR, who finished eighth last year with just five wins, are also set to field a new opening combination in the absence of Rahmanullah Garbaz and Quinton de Kock.New Zealand’s explosive duo of Allen and Seifert – who recently smashed a record 117 to eliminate South Africa in a T20 World Cup semi-final at Eden Gardens – are leading the way.With Sunil Narine, whoever opens, certain to be in the XI, choosing the remaining three foreign players from a pool that includes Green, Allen, Seifert, Ravindra and possibly Mathisha Pathirana presents another selection dilemma.“I think it’s a priority at the moment, to make sure we get our combinations right. Because I always believe that when you have new combinations in this IPL, it’s about making sure you get your team on top, yes, everybody is in form, but positioning them well enough to succeed.“So I think that will be our first challenge as a group and we will see the rest as it comes,” said Nair.KKR’s middle order struggles last season – where positions 4 to 8 failed to deliver consistently – remains a concern. However, Nair stressed that past performance will have little bearing on the upcoming campaign.He cited Sanju Samson as an example, pointing to how the wicketkeeper-batsman overcame poor form ahead of the T20 World Cup and played crucial knocks in India’s title run.“We saw that with Sanju Samson in the World Cup as well. It’s about being there at the moment in this tournament. So we’re very hopeful that our players can get off to a strong start.“And if you are in good form, it doesn’t matter what your name is in this format of the game. I think form counts a lot more than what happened in the past,” he added.“I’ve always believed that T20 cricket is a game of pace. It’s a game of form. So what happened a year ago doesn’t matter what’s going to happen.”“I think the way our guys hit this season is going to be really important. And if everybody is at the peak of their abilities, then you hope this team does really well like they did a year ago. So I honestly believe it’s not so much what happened in the past,” he said.
