Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are an Indian Premier League cricket team that represents the city of Kolkata (IPL). Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, actress Juhi Chawla, and her husband Jay Mehta own the franchise. The Eden Gardens stadium is where the Knight Riders play.
Because of their association with celebrity owners, the Kolkata Knight Riders have garnered a lot of attention. In 2011, they qualified for the IPL for the first time. They won the IPL in 2012 after defeating Chennai Super Kings in the final. They won the championship again in 2014, this time defeating Kings XI Punjab.
Kolkata Knight Riders History
The owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, is in desperate need of good scripts. He doesn’t have to look any further than his own team for a good story. The journey of Kolkata Knight Riders players has everything that makes a blockbuster: big names, fights, crushing defeats, and finally sweet victories.
Former Indian captain and cricket’s ‘Dada’ Sourav Ganguly captained KKR in the first season. Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Ricky Ponting, Shoaib Akhtar, and other big names were on the team.
Everyone remembers the first IPL game, when opener Brendon McCullum smashed an unbelievable 158 off 73 balls, including 10 boundaries and 13 sixes, to help KKR defeat RCB by 140 runs. Following a thunderous start, KKR’s thunder fizzled and began a series of disappointments until Gautam Gambhir was given the captaincy. Under his legendary leadership, KKR won the IPL twice.
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KKR Team Records
Indian Premier League
| Season | League standing | Final standing |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 6th out of 8 | League stage |
| 2009 | 8th out of 8 | League stage |
| 2010 | 6th out of 8 | League stage |
| 2011 | 4th out of 10 | Playoffs |
| 2012 | 2nd out of 9 | Champions |
| 2013 | 7th out of 9 | League stage |
| 2014 | 2nd out of 8 | Champions |
| 2015 | 5th out of 8 | League stage |
| 2016 | 4th out of 8 | Playoffs |
| 2017 | 3rd out of 8 | Playoffs |
| 2018 | 3rd out of 8 | Playoffs |
| 2019 | 5th out of 8 | League stage |
| 2020 | 5th out of 8 | League stage |
| 2021 | 4th out of 8 | Runners-up |
| 2022 | 7th out of 10 | League stage |
Champions League Twenty20
| Season | League standing | Final standing |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Cancelled | |
| 2009 | DNQ | |
| 2010 | ||
| 2011 | 5th out of 10 | Group stage |
| 2012 | 6th out of 10 | Group stage |
| 2013 | DNQ | |
| 2014 | 2nd out of 10 | Runners-up |
| 2015 | Defunct | |
Source: Wikipedia
KKR released Saurav Ganguly after IPL 2010
Ganguly was not purchased at auction by KKR in 2011. They spent 2.4 million dollars on a dependable Gautam Gambhir and 2.1 million dollars on Yusuf Pathan.
Shakib Al Hasan, Brad Haddin, Jacques Kallis, Brett Lee, Ryan ten Doeschate, Eoin Morgan, and James Pattinson are among the other international players who have been added. This was the start of a new era for the side. The team won 8 of their 15 games, allowing them to qualify for the eliminator for the first time.
Glorious victory of Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012 IPL
KKR purchased a magician in the 2012 auctions who wrote history for his team without the use of a magical wand. He was none other than Sunil Narine. It was so difficult for the batters to understand his bowling. He bowled crucial overs as KKR won 12 games, including the finals against Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings.
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Kolkata erupted, and Shah Rukh Khan and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee turned it into a huge carnival.
Another Feather on Kolkata Knight Riders Cap in 2014
In 2014, the Kolkata Knight Riders once again demonstrated their outstanding sportsmanship by putting up an outstanding display. This time, the opponent was Kings XI Punjab. The victory was also replicated under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir.
Indian players Robin Uthappa, Umesh Yadav, Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, and Piyush Chawla, along with Morne Morkel, Patrick Cummins, and Chris Lynn, made a strong team. Gautam Gambhir’s tactical captaincy was spot on, as the KKR team went on to win 11 games that season. They defeated Kings XI Punjab while chasing a big total.
Disappointments for KKR Team
KKR finished fifth, fourth, third, and fifth in the 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2020 seasons, respectively, but what was more notable was that the team handed opportunities to players such as Ankit Rajpoot, Jaydev Unadkat, Rishi Dhawan, Ishank Jaggi, and others.
The franchise made it apparent in the 2018 auctions that they are looking about the future by not selecting their most successful skipper, Gautam Gambhir. They signed Dinesh Karthik as captain and continued to give young players opportunities.
IPL summary of results
| Year | Played | Wins | Losses | Tied | NR | Win % | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 14 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 46.16 | 6/8 |
| 2009 | 14 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 23.07 | 8/8 |
| 2010 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 | 6/8 |
| 2011 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 53.33 | 4/10 |
| 2012 | 18 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 70.58 | 1/9 |
| 2013 | 16 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 37.50 | 7/9 |
| 2014 | 16 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 68.75 | 1/8 |
| 2015 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 53.84 | 5/8 |
| 2016 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 53.33 | 4/8 |
| 2017 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 56.25 | 3/8 |
| 2018 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 56.25 | 3/8 |
| 2019 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 42.86 | 5/8 |
| 2020 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 | 5/8 |
| 2021 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 52.94 | 2/8 |
| Total | 213 | 108 | 101 | 0 | 4 | 51.67 |
Source: Wikipedia
Current Squad
Kolkata Knight Riders entered the IPL 2023 auction with only ₹7.05 crore remaining in their purse. In terms of squad availability, they had 11 slots available of which three were for overseas players.
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Kolkata Knight Riders at IPL 2023 auction: N Jagadeesan (Rs 90 Lakh),
Vaibhav Arora (Rs 60 lakh)
Suyash Sharma (Rs 20 lakh)
David Wiese (Rs 1 Cr)
Kulwant Khejroliya (Rs 20 lakh)
Litton Das (Rs 50 lakh)
Mandeep Singh (Rs 50 lakh)
Shakib Al Hasan (Rs 1.5 Cr)
KKR remaining purse: Rs 1.65 crore
Kolkata Knight Riders 2023 retained players
Wicketkeepers: Rahmanullah Gurbaz
Batters: Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh.
All-rounders: Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur.
Bowlers: Lockie Ferguson, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Varun Chakravarthy, Umesh Yadav
KKR Released players: Pat Cummins, Sam Billings, Aman Khan, Shivam Mavi, Mohammad Nabi, Chamika Karunaratne, Aaron Finch, Alex Hales, Abhijeet Tomar, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Sharma, Baba Indrajith, Pratham Singh, Ramesh Kumar, Rasikh Salam, Sheldon Jackson
KKR Awards and Achievements
- Champions: 2012
- Champions: 2014
- Most Successive wins in a single Indian Premier League season- 9 (2014).
- Most Successive wins in the Indian Premier League-10 (2014-15).
- KKR is fourth in the list of the highest score in a match (245/6 vs KXIP, 2018).
- KKR holds the record for restricting their opponent. (49 vs RCB, 2017)
- 7th in the most successful run chase. (206 vs RCB, 2014)
- 3rd in the winning by the biggest margin of runs (140 vs RCB, 2008)
- Brendon McCullum is second on the list of most sixes in an innings (13 vs RCB, 2008)
- Andre Russel has the highest Strike rate of 186.41). Sunil Narine is second with a strike rate of 168.34.
- Yusuf Pathan and Sunil Narine are second and third on the list of fastest fifties in IPL. Pathan scored in 15 balls against SRH in, 2014 and Narine scored in 15 balls against RCB in 2017.
