There is a buzz in the Kolkata Knight Riders camp already. On Friday, they kicked off their first practice session of the season at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai and on Saturday, they had Harbhajan Singh checking in at their team hotel.

Harbhajan, the latest addition to Knight Riders’ spin arsenal, will, however, not be joining practice immediately as he will have to undergo the mandatory quarantine.

This is the first time that the champion spinner will be turning out for the Knight Riders, having represented Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in previous editions of the tournament. Harbhajan was recruited for Rs 2 crore at this year’s auction.

Five players from the Knight Riders’ 2021 squad finished their mandatory seven-day quarantine at the team hotel and came out to practice on Friday. Varun Chakravarthy, Rahul Tripathi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Sandeep Warrier and newcomer Vaibhav Arora were among the first players to check in for the camp, along with support staff Abhishek Nayar and Omkar Salvi.

The session was held under lights, with the players undergoing a light warm-up session followed by some fielding and catching drills. They also batted and bowled a bit in the latter half with Tripathi padding up for the major part of the session, while the three pacers — Sandeep, Nagarkoti and Vaibhav — along with spinner Varun sweated it out with the ball.

Though the mood in the Knight Riders camp is quite upbeat already with pictures of happy faces being posted on their website and social media platforms, there’s also a sense of disappointment because they will not be able to play at their home ground — Eden Gardens — this time.

Actually, none of the teams will get to play at their home grounds this year.

“Coming and playing at Eden Gardens is something that we take pride in and we enjoy. To be honest, not playing at Eden Gardens despite playing India is going to be the only con, if I could say so,” assistant coach Nayar said.

The two-time champions begin their season against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 11 in Chennai.

The Dhoni effect

Chennai Super Kings top-order batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad has said skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s comforting words after he didn’t do well in his first three games in the last IPL, helped him perform at the back end with a free mind.

Gaikwad fell early in the first three outings before scoring 65 not out against Royal Challengers Bangalore, 72 against Knight Riders and 62 not out against Kings XI Punjab (renamed Punjab Kings).

“Dhoni told me to enjoy my cricket and not to think about the result… Once I could get my eye in, he was confident that I’d be able to make an impact,” the Maharashtra batsman was quoted as saying on the CSK website. “I think it was a good reminder for me, because all I was looking for was the result and not thinking about the process.”