Sipu Jha
The trade talk ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) mini-auction next month is heating up and the developments in Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders camp are generating a lot of interest at the moment. Much of the interest is around wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul who has been on KKR’s radar as the franchise is on the lookout for a captain and a top-order wicketkeeper-batter. But even after several informal meetings between Rahul and KKR top brass, there is very little progress on the high-profile trade deal with DC. The major roadblock has been the lack of tradable assets in the KKR camp which would excite DC to release their marquee signing from last year. It is reliably learnt that as many as three combinations were proposed by DC to KKR, who weren’t comfortable with any.
The first was a direct swap with Sunil Narine; the second was a combination of Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Rinku Singh and the latest was Harshit Rana and Raghuvanshi. DC’s stand on the matter is very clear at the moment and they have maintained that if KKR want their marquee player, they need to release someone of similar stature.Ever since Abhishek Nayar was formalised as the KKR head coach, various options were looked at but there hasn’t been any headway. Nayar and Raghuvanshi go way back as he has personally trained him but DC’s interest in him doesn’t come as a surprise considering the youngster is a JSW Sports (co-owners of DC) athlete and has been on the franchise’s radar for some time.The KKR camp feels Rinku and Harshit are their homegrown players and see a lot of years with the two. So as things stand, there is not a workable solution on the table. DC are close to formalising the Sanju Samson-Tristan Stubbs-and-uncapped-Indian-player swap and it remains to be seen how the franchise handles the squad dynamics.
Kolkata Knight Riders have expressed interest in bringing KL Rahul into their fold. But the move has been stalled by lack of suitable assets to go the other way. (PTI)
While Rahul and Samson in the same squad amps up the brand value, it poses a Playing XI challenge. Where do you bat the two? Who opens with Abhishek Porel? Will Samson agree to bat at No.3? Or will they drop Rahul back to the middle-order – a position he wasn’t quite comfortable in last season.These are the questions DC think-tank need to find answers for because as things stand, KKR would really need to let go of the players they aren’t comfortable releasing right now. If that doesn’t happen, DC are in for a severe headache this season. The problems are set to increase for KKR, too, as they had Ajinkya Rahane as captain last season but the out-of-favour 37-year-old can’t be the face of the franchise anymore.They needed to look for a leader and with not many options likely to be in the auction pool, a Rahul trade was the ideal scenario for them and it isn’t a surprise that they are desperate to have him on board. It wasn’t an ideal last season for the three-time IPL winners and they need to fix their leadership piece to have some direction in the ongoing cycle.
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