Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) presented Venkatesh Iyer as an Impact player in IPL 2023, and he went on to hit a century. The introduction of Impact Player in IPL brings a new dimension to cricket. The substitute player can field, bowl, and bat as per the situation of the match.
As KKR have a couple of all-rounders, and match-winning overseas players, featuring four overseas players in the playing XI is the most likely decision. In this case, KKR will be considering Indian players as impact player options.
With one impact player option out of five priorly chosen substitutes, IPL teams can allow specialized batsmen or bowlers to perform at the right time rather than over-relying on all-rounders. Let’s dive deeper to understand the role of the top three impact player options with whom KKR are poised to bring tough challenges for the opposition in IPL 2025. Before knowing about the impact player options, let’s have a look at the KKR squad.
KKR Squad for IPL 2025
| Batters | Ajinkya Rahane (C), Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodia, |
| All-rounders | Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali |
| Bowlers | Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana, Anrich Nortje, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande, Spencer Johnson, Chetan Sakariya |
Impact Player Options for KKR in IPL 2025
1. Angkrish Raghuvanshi
In case of an initial fall of wickets, KKR will look for an all-rounder to be an impact player. A young talent Angkrish Raghuvanshi did not garner much attention in his maiden IPL season in 2024 while featuring in the KKR squad. In his debut match against the Delhi Capitals, he played a brisk inning of 54 off 27 balls. He has scored 163 runs in 10 IPL matches with an average of 23.29. His IPL career stats are summarised below.
| Mat | No | Runs | Hs | Avg | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 4s | 6s | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPL | 10 | 0 | 163 | 54 | 23.29 | 105 | 155.24 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 8 |
As an explosive batter, Raghuvanshi was an integral member of the Indian team in the Under-19 World Cup 2022, coming out as the major run-scorer among Indian batters. Although his overall contribution is underrated, he produced runs for KKR from the start of the season in 2024. In the case of KKR fielding first, they have Raghuvanshi to add spice in chasing in replacement of a full-time bowler to solidify the batting lineup.
2. Manish Pandey
Manish Pandey was auctioned at a price of INR 75 lakh to play the role of a batter. It will be strategic for KKR to have an extra batter in replacement of a bowler after the end of KKR’s fielding in the first inning. It is noteworthy that he was the first among Indians to smash a hundred in the IPL.
Manish Pandey has been available for India team in ODIs and T20Is in a career span from 2015 to 2021. In 2009, he gained much fame due to hitting a ton while being part of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s playing XI. Yet again he is back in the squad after serving the KKR franchise from 2014 to 2017, including a match-winning knock in the IPL 2014 final as he got the title of Man of the Match after smashing 94 runs while playing against Kings XI Punjab (Punjab Kings) and helped KKR to lift IPL trophy in 2014 for the second time. As KKR is looking to defend the title, Manish Pandey as an impact player option may set the campaign for winning the fourth title. You can check his IPL and T20I stats below.
| Mat | No | Runs | HS | Avg | BF | SR | 100s | 50s | 4s | 6s | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPL | 171 | 27 | 3850 | 114* | 29.17 | 3179 | 121.11 | 1 | 22 | 335 | 110 |
| T20I | 39 | 17 | 709 | 79* | 44.31 | 562 | 126.15 | 0 | 3 | 49 | 19 |
Without compromising the depth in bowling, the quality of batting can remain intact. Manish Pandey, as an impact player option, brings up strategic flexibility with his right-hand batting style and power-hitting ability.
3. Anukul Roy
The presence of Anukul Roy adds one more spinner to the squad. If the pitch condition allows, he will be a savior for the team as he is a left-arm spinner. If KKR bats first, he can take the position of a proper batter to have more options in the bowling unit.
Anukul Roy’s talent was noticed when India won the Under-19 Cricket World Cup in 2018 as he was named among the highest wicket-takers. From the IPL era beginning for him in 2019 with Mumbai Indians to joining KKR in 2022, he has played 11 matches and took 5 wickets. As given below you can check his IPL stats.
| Mat | Balls | Runs | Wkts | BBI | Avg | Eco | SR | 4w | 5w | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPL | 11 | 136 | 191 | 5 | 2/19 | 38.20 | 8.43 | 27.20 | 0 | 0 |
Anukul Roy does not disappoint as a fielder taking significant catches and restricting runs. While he has not yet played in the IPL on various occasions, his consistency as an allrounder for Jharkhand in domestic cricket has been remarkable.
As Kolkata Knight Riders are tasked with defending the title in IPL 2025, an appropriate choice for impact player options will bring the tactical game to the front end.
