u/xMarkx99

Are we gonna forget how clueless and incompetent he was tactically last season?

CricBuzz reported that KKR are interested in Hardik Pandya trade but won’t give away any marquee players in return. Now, first we need to define “marquee” here because apart from Sunny, Varun, Green and maybe Harshit we don’t have any players who qualify as marquee in the IPL.

KKR won’t trade Rinku and my question to the management is WHY? I mean Rinku is alright but he’s a one dimensional player. He isn’t better than Hardik in any way, be it batting, bowling and most importantly captaincy. Hardik is a lot more marketable too. There is no way you wouldn’t wanna trade Rinku for Hardik. It makes no cricketing and business sense to give up on signing Hardik for the sake of keeping Rinku. In Hardik we get a finisher, world class bowler and an experienced captain. Rinku only offers one of these three things.

Same goes for Raghuvanshi, talented batsman but one dimensional and doesn’t have the same level of impact as Hardik in T20 cricket or any form of cricket. He’s nowhere near the ICT T20 setup and there are many guys ahead in line.

There is no loyalty in IPL or franchise cricket in general unless you’re a legacy player like Kohli, MSD, Narine, Pollard, etc. Neither Rinku nor Raghuvanshi are franchise players. Rinku when asked in an interview about which team he’d play for if given a chance, he said RCB - our biggest rivals. Same with Raghuvanshi, he gave trials at RCB, CSK and DC ahead of 2025 Mega Auction.

If MI want Rinku for Hardik, by all means we gotta do that deal. Same with Raghuvanshi.

The only players I wouldn’t touch are Sunny, Allen, and Harshit. Everybody else is negotiable and can go.

Ideally, we’d love an all cash deal. We already released Fizz to save 9 crores. We can now release Pathirana to save 18 more. We will have enough funds to trade Hardik but Mumbai won’t do an all cash deal.

So here are the five deals MI would do and players I’d let go of KKR:

1. Varun CV - Age and inconsistency + recent injury concerns. This could be a straight swap.

2. Rinku - Inconsistent and unreliable, his form has gone down in recent seasons. Hardik is a better player and better captain. This could also be a straight swap.

3. Rambo + Anukul - Both decent player but I’d ship them if we can get Hardik in trade.

4. Raghuvanshi - a controversial trade but looking at the mega auction and KKR needing a captain desperately, I’d do the deal. I like Raghuvanshi but let’s be honest here, Hardik is a better batsman, he’s also a class bowler and most importantly he is an IPL winning captain. An overall better player than Raghuvanshi. I do get the sentiments of certain fans who don’t wanna let go of Raghuvanshi but from a cricketing POV, we should do this deal. Although this should be the last option. This should also be a straight swap + cash to settle the trade fee.

5. Pathirana - With Bumrah losing his rhythm and Boult leaving the IPL next season. MI would like to have a Pathirana in their side, however, the guy is injury prone and it’s highly unlikely MI would take a punt but this is another deal I’d be ok with.

I don’t see MI agreeing to any other possible offers except the above. I mean they could demand Allen, Green, Sunny, Harshit but those players for me are untouchable. Non-negotiable. Just won’t and shouldn’t happen.

It really pisses me off that KKR couldn’t get a team in the Hundred and SA20. Two most popular leagues outside the IPL. They’ll only get better by the looks of it. We’ve instead invested in freakin MLC and Abu Dhabi league, both irrelevant with no certain future.

We KKR fans would have got to enjoy watching Knight Riders team in the IPL, Hundred, SA20 throughout the year. It’s really annoying tbh.

Having said that, what team are you supporting in the Hundred this season? I like Trent and Leeds.

Finn Allen.
Sunil Narine.
Ajinkiye Rahane.
Cameron Green.
Ben Stokes.
Rinku Singh.
Hardik Pandya (c).
Anukul Roy.
Harshit Rana (VC).
Varun Chakravarthy.
Kartik Tyagi.

Impact - Saurabh Dubey/Ramandeep Singh.

1. Destructive openers.
2. Stable middle order.
3. Rinku x Hardik as finishers.
4. Six proper all rounders.
5. Six proper pacers and Three quality spinners.
6. Experienced captain and leadership group.

If Abhishek Nayar has got a problem with it, then he can also go with Raghuvanshi.

Oba is currently a free agent and has not yet signed for RAW or SD. I want Brock to win the title off Sami Zayn and drop it to Oba at SS if he is genuinely retiring. That would be a perfect way to end this feud and further build Oba Femi.

I do not see him winning the title on Raw any time soon. They will do Rock vs Roman at Saudi next year so I doubt Oba is fighting for the title at WM either if he stays on RAW. Roman will feud with Seth, Solo, and possibly Bronson Reed and he ain’t dropping the title on a random PLE.

Whereas Oba on SD can win and have a run with the undisputed title this year. Let the likes of Cody, Randy, Punk feud between themselves. We need to see Oba vs Gunther feud for the title on SD.

But first thing is first, I wanna see Brock win it on SNME then Oba walks out of SS with the title.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi

or

Harshit Rana.

I'd personally let go of Raghuvanshi. Really like the player but he's not as good of a cricketer as Harshit.

Harshit is a ICT regular and top 3 white ball bowlers in India. On top of that he's developing into a good all-rounder as well who can bat at number 8&9. It's a no brainer but I'd like to know your opinion.

It's been reported that Hardik Pandya does not want to join Rajasthan Royals in a trade deal. The all-rounder prefers Kolkata Knight Riders and wants to lead the 3x champions in IPL 2027.

Rajasthan Royals and Yashasvi Jaiswal both are open to a trade deal with Mumbai Indians but the deal was called off because Hardik Pandya rejected the trade offer.

There has been no confirmation from the WWE or people working inside the company on Brock Lesnar's potential retirement at SummerSlam. There is a possibility he continues post SummerSlam if TKO offers him a new deal and the Saudis want him for WrestleMania next year.

If he isn't retiring, then it changes the dynamics of his third match with Oba. For starters, I don't think it takes place at SummerSlam and secondly, I don't think he loses his third match to Oba if he signs a contract extension. He would wanna win the third match against Oba if they wrestle again, as part of his contract extension. So Creative could put off their match all together to protect Oba maybe until next Mania.

KKR are all set to go through their toughest test of the season so far against RCB in Raipur tomorrow. A win against RCB will give us a massive confidence boost and further belief of qualifying for the playoffs. I do genuinely believe if we beat RCB tomorrow then we’re in a comfortable spot because last three games are home games and if we get the Eden wicket we got against RR, I think we are very much capable of winning the remaining three against GT, MI, DC.

Here’s what I would do against RCB:

1. Win the toss and bowl first. If we’re lucky enough to win the toss, we should chase and on a tricky wicket like that with possibility of dew, chasing is going to be an advantage.

2. Be smart against Bhuvi. He’s been carrying RCB bowling this season as Hazlewood is out of form. He’s arguably the best swing bowler in the IPL and we need to show him respect and try to play out the swing in his first 2-3 overs. We don’t need to take risks, I’d take 10 runs off his first two overs in the power-play as long as we don’t throw our wickets. Rahane hits better with the swing, I reckon he should take more strike against Bhuvi. We want Allen to play at least six overs.

3. If we’re able to play out Bhuvi in the power-play, we’re in a good position. Other RCB bowlers have been average this season and their sixth bowler is Romario. We’ve got a batting deep enough to post or chase a par total.

4. Team Combination - I’d bring in Ramandeep and Pathirana for Powell and Varun. Some people suggested Solanki but we don’t need three spinners on that wicket but we absolutely can make use of Rambo’s slower balls on that wicket. Pathirana further strengthens our pace bowling, I’ve got a feeling if he plays then either him or Tyagi will take Patidar’s wicket.

5. Rahane x Raghuvanshi - we don’t need this duo to bat together because they’ll slow down the innings. We bat till number 9 we don’t need to play safe unless we’re 3 or 4 down in first 10 overs. We should bat Cam Green at number 3. That’s his position and it should be fixed.

My team for tomorrow:

Allen.
Rahane (c).
Green.
Raghuvanshi (wk).
Rinku.
Anukul.
Manish/Rambo (depending on situation).
Rambo/Manish (depending on situation).
Narine (can be used as floater/good record with the bat against RCB).
Tyagi.
Vaibhav.

Impact - Pathirana.