Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are a cricket team in the Indian Premier League that represents the city of Kolkata (IPL). The franchise is owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, actress Juhi Chawla, and her husband Jay Mehta. The Knight Riders play at Eden Gardens Stadium.
The Kolkata Knight Riders have received a lot of attention as a result of their affiliation with celebrity owners. They qualified for the IPL for the first time in 2011. In 2012, they won the IPL after defeating the Chennai Super Kings in the final. In 2014, they won the championship again, this time defeating Kings XI Punjab.
Kolkata Knight Riders History
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If Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who owns the Kolkata Knight Riders, is in desperate need of decent scripts of a good tale, he doesn’t have to look any further than his own team. The Kolkata Knight Riders players’ journey includes everything that makes a blockbuster: big names, battles, terrible defeats, and, finally, sweet victory.
Sourav Ganguly, a former Indian captain and cricket’s ‘Dada,’ captained KKR in the first season. The team included Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Ricky Ponting, Shoaib Akhtar, and other major players.
Everyone recalls the first IPL game, when opener Brendon McCullum hit an incredible 158 off 73 balls, including 10 boundaries and 13 sixes, to help KKR upset RCB by 140 runs. Following a stormy start, KKR’s thunder faded, ushering in a string of failures till Gautam Gambhir was appointed captain. KKR won the IPL twice under his great leadership.
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
KKR did not buy Ganguly at auction in 2011. They spent $2.4 million for a reliable Gautam Gambhir and $2.1 million on Yusuf Pathan.
Other international players include Shakib Al Hasan, Brad Haddin, Jacques Kallis, Brett Lee, Ryan ten Doeschate, Eoin Morgan, and James Pattinson. This marked the beginning of a new era for the team. The squad won eight of its fifteen games, allowing them to qualify for the elimination round for the first time.
Glorious victory of Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012 IPL
At the 2012 auctions, KKR purchased a magician who wrote history for his team without the aid of a magical wand. He was none other than Sunil Narine. His bowling was extremely difficult for the hitters to understand. When KKR won 12 games, including the finals against Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings, he bowled important overs.
The city of Kolkata erupted, and Shah Rukh Khan and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee converted it into a massive festival.
Another Feather on Kolkata Knight Riders Cap in 2014
The Kolkata Knight Riders once again shown their excellent sportsmanship by putting on a spectacular performance in 2014. The opponent this time was Kings XI Punjab. The victory was again repeated under Gautam Gambhir’s captaincy.
Indian players Robin Uthappa, Umesh Yadav, Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, and Piyush Chawla formed a powerful squad with Morne Morkel, Patrick Cummins, and Chris Lynn. Gautam Gambhir’s tactical captaincy was perfect, as the KKR squad won 11 games that season. While chasing a large total, they overcame Kings XI Punjab.
Disappointments for KKR Team
KKR finished fifth, fourth, third, and fifth in the 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2020 seasons, respectively, but what was more remarkable was that the team provided opportunities to players such as Ankit Rajpoot, Jaydev Unadkat, Rishi Dhawan, Ishank Jaggi, and others.
By not selecting their most successful skipper, Gautam Gambhir, in the 2018 auctions, the franchise made it clear that they are looking ahead. They appointed Dinesh Karthik as captain and continued to give opportunity to young players.
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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.
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.
Also Read: Punjab Kings Team Profile And Analysis: History, Record, Stats, Squad and Achievements
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