With the IPL 2026 starting on March 28, the three-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will be hoping for a better season than the previous one. For that, one of the main things they need to fix is their batting order, especially deciding where Sunil Narine should bat for them.
Before the IPL 2026 auction, the three-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders released players like Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Quinton de Kock, who were their top-order batters in IPL 2025. In their place, they brought in the New Zealand trio of Tim Seifert, Finn Allen, and Rachin Ravindra.
Speaking about Sunil Narine, he scored only 246 runs in 12 matches at an average of 22.36 last season. This was one of the reasons why KKR did not have a good season, as their top order failed to perform, especially Narine, who had scored 488 runs in IPL 2024 and played a key role in winning the title.
If we look at his batting position, he does not open in other franchise leagues like ILT20, CPL, or SA20. It is only in the IPL that he opens, which has worked at times, but when it does not, it affects the team badly.
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Both Finn Allen and Tim Seifert had an impressive run in the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2026. Allen scored 298 runs in 8 innings at an average of 49.66 and a strike rate of 200.00, including a 100* off just 33 balls against South Africa in the semi-final at Eden Gardens, which is also his IPL home ground.
Seifert also performed well, scoring 326 runs at an average of 46.57 and a strike rate of 166.32, including 4 half-centuries, with 2 coming in the semi-final and final. Both players have been in very good form since the start of 2025, so one of them is expected to open, most likely Allen because of his semi-final innings. It will be difficult to play both, as KKR also have players like Cameron Green, Blessing Muzarabani/Matheesha Pathirana and Narine, who remains in the XI for his bowling.
Along with Allen, it could be Ajinkya Rahane, the captain, who opens the innings. He is also in very good form, as in the SMAT 2025–26 he scored 391 runs in 10 innings at an average of 48.87 and a strike rate of 161.57 while opening for Mumbai.
He also had a good IPL 2025 season, scoring close to 400 runs, but mostly batting at No. 3. For IPL 2026, that position will likely be taken by Green, for whom KKR spent INR 25.20 crore. This batting order will help the team stay stable and allow players like Rinku Singh to face more deliveries. If Narine opens and fails, it can disturb the entire batting order.
Ajinkya Rahane, Finn Allen (wk), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Sunil Narine, Umran/Akash Deep, Blessing Muzarabani, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora (IP).
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