With out Anrich Nortje, KKR’s injury-prone & inexperienced tempo assault simply toothless tigers in IPL 2025

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) may have a tall task in hand heading into IPL 2025, specifically in the bowling department. After letting go of Mitchell Starc ahead of the mega-auction, the defending champs attempted to make it up by adding Spencer Johnson, Anrich Nortje and Umran Malik to their line-up. However, the Proteas pacer has now been ruled out of SA20 and ICC Champions Trophy due to a back injury. For all we know, he could go on to miss IPL 2025 as well.

Can KKR sans Anrich Nortje survive IPL 2025?

Nortje is easily one of the most experienced pacers in KKR’s bowling line-up. Despite being injury-prone, the Proteas bowler has the ability to bowl at high speeds and take wickets at both the powerplay and in death overs. Should he be ruled out of IPL 2025, then KKR’s bowling line-up will comprise of young Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, an injury-prone Umran Malik and Spencer Johnson. None of the four are experienced enough to give KKR an upper hand.

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Rana, Arora good but inexperienced

Rana was indeed a find for KKR in IPL 2024, as he finished as the joint highest wicket-taker for the team in the season along with Andre Russell. His 19-wicket haul in the previous edition paved way for his entry into the Indian team, across formats. Arora is another option that KKR has and was another revelation in 2024. With 11 wickets to his name in the tournament, he was one of the best young pacers that the side unearthed. But the issue here is that both these young pacers lack the experience. While they can be trusted to step up and deliver in the absence of Nortje, there is a cloud of uncertainty over how consistently they can deliver.

Injury-prone Umran & Johnson no good

Umran Malik bowling in full swing is a blessing for any team. However, that is pretty much unlikely to last throughout the tournament, thanks to his love affair with injuries. Ever since making his IPL debut in 2021, he has played only 26 matches. To make matters worse, he has never played a full IPL season barring 2022.

Spencer Johnson is another injury-prone pacer who can be as unreliable as Malik. In 2024 alone, the Aussie pacer was ruled out on a couple of occasions due to injury, with the latest one being a snapped tendon in the middle toe of his right foot in December 2024. Whether he will be able to deliver as much as Nortje or Starc would is something that is very doubtful.

Excess pressure on Andre Russell too risky

KKR can always turn to Andre Russell to deliver with the ball, for he was the highest wicket-taking medium pace bowler for the side in IPL 2024. But that would put too much pressure on the all-rounder who is very much injury-prone, especially while bowling. Besides, the team would already depend heavily on the Caribbean star to deliver with the bat.