Captain: Eoin Morgan
Coach Brendon McCullum
Home ground: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
IPL titles: 2 (2012, 2014)
Owners: Red Chillies Entertainment, Mehta Group
KKR is owned by actors Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla, as well as Chawla’s spouse Jay Mehta, and is one of three teams that have won multiple IPL titles. The franchise was purchased in 2008 for around Rs 262.5 crore (roughly US$75.09 million) and has since become one of the most popular teams in the competition.
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History
The Knight Riders’ first three years under Sourav Ganguly and then Brendon McCullum were forgettable. They had Ricky Ponting, Chris Gayle, and (briefly) Shoaib Akhtar on their team, as well as promising young Indian bowlers like Ishant Sharma and Iqbal Abdulla, but they only finished sixth in the first three seasons.
Season after season, KKR appeared to be the club to beat in the new league after Brendon McCullum’s 158 not-out in the tournament opener. After four straight defeats, the squad concluded with three losses at the end of the season, despite two Player-of-the-Match performances from Ganguly and devastation of the Delhi Daredevils by Akhtar.
2009 is the eighth year.
KKR’s back was broken by an eight-game losing streak that began with a Super-Over loss in their third game. They had only won one game after 12 games, and if it hadn’t been for their two victories in the final two games, they might have had the poorest season in franchise cricket history.KKR earned their maiden playoff appearance in 2011 after Gautam Gambhir was named captain ahead of the fourth season.
Along with Jacques Kallis, Yusuf Pathan became a major component. KKR won their first IPL title in 2012, owing in part to newcomers Sunil Narine and Robin Uthappa. They won the title again in 2014, boosted by the acquisitions of Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Piyush Chawla, and Andre Russell. The next three years were promising, but KKR did not win another title. Gambhir’s tenure came to an end after he was not re-signed before the 2018 auction.
In 2018, Dinesh Karthik was given the reins. With an eye on the future, a youthful squad was formed around him, including Narine and Russell. KKR finished third in their first season under Karthik’s leadership. He moved down midway through the 2020 IPL season, relinquishing the reins to Eoin Morgan, who led them to fifth place.
The peaks
KKR’s two championships in three years remain their pinnacle. Because of the team’s terrible performance in the previous four seasons, the first win, in 2012, was historic. The win over the Kings XI Punjab in 2014, when they chased the highest-ever IPL final score, confirmed that year’s squad as legends for all time.
The lowest points
Ganguly’s fantasy of a fairy tale came true, but he clashed with coach John Buchanan, whose multiple-captain system drew jeers, especially after the team’s fortunes dropped even more. The exclusion of Ganguly ahead of 2011 threatened to undermine Kolkata’s fondness for KKR, while the kerfuffle over the Fake IPL player (an anonymous blogger who pretended to have inside information) in the early years made them the punchline.
2010 is the sixth year.
Despite two bad seasons, Ganguly was retained as captain, and he scored 493 runs, but the rest of the team could not find a winning formula. They dropped a lot of games in the first half of the tournament, and despite trying for third, fourth, and fifth place on 14 points, their poor net run rate cost them a playoff position. Ganguly was cut before the next auction. 2011 was the fourth year.
A fresh new look KKR set out to change the team’s fortunes, and for the first time, they qualified for the playoffs.
KKR’s faith in the Indian talent they had brought in with new captain Gambhir was rewarded, with match-winning performances from spinner Abdulla, quick bowler L Balaji, and middle-order batsman Pathan and Manoj Tiwary. In the eliminator, they were defeated by the Mumbai Indians. 2012 – Gambhir and new coach Trevor Bayliss, who replaced Dav Whatmore, led KKR to their first title. They started with two losses, then two wins, a loss, six straight triumphs, two loses, and finally two wins, putting them in second place in the league stage. Manvinder Bisla’s 89 in the final helped KKR chase down a difficult 191 target.
The year 2013 is the seventh.
A lackluster year sandwiched between two exceptional ones. Narine topped the KKR bowling rankings this year and last, while Gambhir was unstoppable with the bat, but they were unable to elicit contributions from the rest of the team. Kallis was good but inconsistent, and KKR lost ten of their 16 league games, placing seventh out of eleven teams. Champions in 2014
KKR looked headed for an early exit after losing five of their first seven games, but a nine-game winning streak gave them their second title. The partnerships of Gambhir and Uthappa set KKR up for easy finishes, which Pathan generally gave. Kuldeep Yadav and Kallis also made frequent contributions, and Pandey came out on top in the end.
Champions in 2014
KKR looked headed for an early exit after losing five of their first seven games, but a nine-game winning streak gave them their second title. The partnerships of Gambhir and Uthappa set KKR up for easy finishes, which Pathan generally gave. Kuldeep Yadav and Kallis made regular contributions as well, and Pandey’s 94 in the final helped KKR chase down 200 for the trophy.
The year 2015 is the fifth.
Andre Russell hit three fifties, but KKR’s bowlers dominated the season. Morne Morkel gave Kolkata Knight Riders a rare victory over Mumbai Indians, Umesh Yadav was the match-winner twice, while Piyush Chawla’s four-wicket haul destroyed the Delhi Daredevils. To qualify, KKR needed to win one of their final two league games, but they lost both to Mumbai and the Royals.
2016 is the fourth year.
As KKR qualified for the playoffs, Russell’s dominance continued: he won three Player-of-the-Match accolades and Pathan two. The Sunrisers knocked them out in the elimination round. It was also Jacques Kallis’ first season as coach, a connection that would endure three years.
When KKR won seven of their first nine games, their big-hitting at the top, followed by accumulative performances from Gambhir and Uthappa, placed them on course for a third IPL victory, but their performances faded as the season continued. They advanced to the playoffs but were eliminated in the qualifier after being bowled out for 107 runs. (Russell was unavailable because he was serving a suspension.) 2018 is the third year.
KKR batted aggressively, relying on the power of Lynn, Narine, and Russell to generate large totals and overcome their fast bowling’s inexperience. Despite his low batting average, Karthik led the squad in runs scored with 498.
2017 is the third year
The Kolkata Knight Riders defeated the Rajasthan Royals in the eliminator but lost to the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final. 2019 is the fifth year.
They won four of their first five games before losing six consecutively. Russell’s heroics with the bat, which earned him four Player-of-the-Match accolades, were often the reason KKR triumphed. Shubman Gill’s promotion from finisher to opener paid off, as KKR would have qualified for the playoffs if they had won their final game against the Mumbai Indians.
2020 is the sixth year.
In a close season in which they struggled to gain any traction, KKR’s place on the points table was flattering. Narine and Russell were out for long stretches, and they lost more games than they won under new captain Morgan, who took over after seven games. KKR, on the other hand, discovered a fresh diamond in Varun Chakravarthy, the mystery spinner.
Gautam Gambhir is KKR’s all-time leading run-scorer with 3345 runs. He has 30 fifties in 122 matches, all of which he has captained. Gambhir received plaudits for his strong leadership, as he led KKR to two IPL titles. He began his career as an opener but was moved to the middle order to make room for hard-hitting batsmen.
Uthappa Robin
Uthappa was the bedrock in the middle order for KKR’s big-hitters for a long time. His 17 half-centuries for the team almost always resulted in wins. Uthappa was the wicket that other teams hoped to obtain when he was at his peak. He scored 40 or more in eight consecutive matches during KKR’s IPL-winning 2014 season, a record he currently retains.
Pathan, Yusuf
Pathan arrived at KKR having already won the IPL with the Rajasthan Royals, and he brought his winning mindset with him, playing key roles in the team’s two titles. Many times, his cameos as a finisher helped KKR over the finish line, and his 30 wickets in 56 innings frequently broke partnerships.
Russell, Andre
Russell, the IPL’s most famous foreign player, is the Knight Riders’ third-highest wicket-taker with a strike rate of under 18, but it is his batting performances that are truly remarkable. He has 1500+ runs with a strike rate of above 180, and he is the only KKR batsman to have hit 100 sixes.
Sunil Narine is a cricketer from India.
Narine, by far KKR’s most successful bowler, has bowled in the Powerplay, middle overs, and at the death. Though he has given up a few more runs after changing his action four years ago, he remains an efficient bowler who also bats as a pinch-hitter.
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