“Not Going To Be Easy”: Sunil Gavaskar On IPL Playoff Qualification Chances Of Former Champions

Legendary India player Sunil Gavaskar has given a massive verdict ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season. With less than two months remaining for the start of the event, the teams have already begun their preparations. Among some early predictions for the season, Gavaskar made a bold claim. The former India batter believes that it would be ‘not easy’ for two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to make it to the IPL 2024 playoffs. Out of the last five seasons, KKR have managed to enter the playoffs only once in 2021.

“Not going to be easy (playoff qualification). They have to because they have got the experience, not only of playing on those kinds of pitches, of having played in the IPL for a while,” Gavaskar told Star Sports as quoted by Sportskeeda.

Gavaskar praised the Indian batting quartet of Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh and Venkatesh Iyer, who all play for KKR.

“I think that experience does come in very handy because you know what the pressure is and you know how to handle it. All these four players have done it exceptionally well. Rinku Singh, in particular, in the last year or so has been tremendous,” said Gavaskar.

Records tumbled at the IPL Players Auction 2024 as KKR bought Australia pacer Mitchell Starc for a record sum of Rs 24.75 crore, making him the costliest buy in the history of the tournament. Starc surpassed his Australian teammate Pat Cummins, who was bought for Rs 20.5 crore by SunRisers Hyderabad in the same auction.

Despite spending more than half of their purse amount on Starc, KKR finished the auction with nine more players in the bag. The two-time champions, however, pulled off one of the biggest bargains by signing young England pacer Gus Atkinson for Rs 1 crore.