IPL 2025: 5 teams that will struggle most without overseas players

3. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

Kolkata Knight Riders are struggling on the points table, having 11 points from 12 matches. Wins in their last two games do not guarantee them a spot in the playoffs. They acquired the services of Venkatesh Iyer at the mega-auction for a whopping INR 23.75 crore. However, the Madhya Pradesh cricketer has not been able to deliver. As the defending champions spent a huge chunk to bring him back into the lineup, they didn't have the budget left to go for some of the more established stars at the auction. The form of retained players like Ramandeep Singh and Rinku Singh has been dismal.

Ajinkya Rahane has batted well and led the team to the best of his abilities, but he hasn't had enough ammunition in his repertoire. Andre Russell finally found form in the last two games, while Sunil Narine has been consistent as ever with the ball. The latter has also played some fine cameos at the top. The troika of Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, and Vaibhav Arora has bagged 48 wickets between them. Therefore, the bowling lineup won't struggle too much in the absence of overseas stars. However, Rahmanullah Gurbaz's explosive starts, Russell's destructive batting in the middle, and Narine's all-round pyrotechnics will be missed.