At the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) were considered as dark horses. Their full-time skipper Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the tournament because of an injury and a disaster was looming large for them.
However, Nitish Rana and co. played some good cricket and exceeded several expectations. Even though they finished 7th in the points table with 6 wins and 8 losses, they achieved a few humongous things.
They defeated both the finalists of IPL 2023, Gujarat Titans (GT) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at their own turf and this was a huge thing for the Knights.
In this article, we take a look at 3 Kolkata Knight Riders players who played beyond expectations:
1. Rinku Singh
The man. The myth. The legend. Rinku Singh had a fairy-tale performance in IPL 2023. He finished as the leading run-getter of IPL 2023. Singh amassed 474 runs and had a blistering average of 59.25.
Rinku Singh’s heist against Gujarat where he scored 30 runs in the last 5 deliveries off the last over, still goes down as one of the best finishes in the 16-year history of IPL. An India cap isn’t far away for the batter.
Several times, Kolkata Knight Riders were reeling under pressure because of top-order collapses. That is when Rinku Singh stepped in and guided them to a commanding total.
2. Suyash Sharma
20-year-old leg-break bowler Suyash Sharma had a breakthrough season in IPL 2023. Before IPL 2023, not a lot of people knew of Suyash Sharma. But now they know him as a youngster who has a lot of potential and capabilities.
Suyash Sharma had 10 scalps in 11 games and was mostly used as an impact player by Kolkata Knight Riders. The youngster joined forces with dynamic spinners of KKR, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy and formed a formidable spin trio in the Kolkata Knight Riders camp.
3. Harshit Rana
With raw pace being his main strength, Harshit Rana was quite quick off the blocks. The 21-year-old bowler excelled in a few matches and after the injury to Umesh Yadav, Harshit Rana was regularly in the playing XI of Kolkata Knight Riders.
In 6 games, Harshit Rana bagged 5 wickets and his pace and accuracy with the white-cherry was something that really stood out. He played well in the home stadium of Kolkata Knight Riders, Eden Gardens, where the ball skids a lot.
Also read: IPL 2023: 3 Gujarat Titans Players Who Played Beyond Expectations
