KKR SWOT Analysis: Will Kolkata Knight Riders Clinch Their Third Indian Premier League Trophy?

After an underwhelming season last time around, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will be eager to make a strong start to their Indian Premier League 2024 campaign under the leadership of Shreyas Iyer. At the mini-auction in December 2023, they spent a whopping INR 31.35 crore, with Mitchell Starc being their most expensive acquisition. In the previous edition, KKR finished in seventh place on the points table, winning six matches and losing eight. They have failed to qualify for the IPL playoffs since 2021.

However, the return of one of KKR's favourite sons Gautam Gambhir will have lifted the team's spirit. After his stint with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Gambhir will mentor the team he led to two IPL trophies as skipper.

Apart from acquiring the services of Starc for the upcoming season, Kolkata bought Chetan Sakariya, KS Bharat, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ramandeep Singh, Sakib Hussain, Manish Pandey and Sherfane Rutherford at the mini-auction. Skipper Shreyas Iyer will also be back in the squad after being ruled out of the 2023 season due to an injury.

As per the IPL 2024 schedule released by the Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI), Kolkata Knight Riders will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in the league's third match at their home ground in Eden Gardens on March 23.

With KKR gearing up for the upcoming IPL season, let's have a look at their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Kolkata Knight Riders are among several teams in the IPL that possess an explosive batting lineup. Players like Phil Salt, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer, Rinku Singh, Dre Russ (Andre Russell), Sherfane Rutherford, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana and Sunil Narine have shown their hard-hitting credentials in the past.

Even though Narine has not