KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS

Team Information

Captain – Dinesh Karthik

Vice Captain – Not Announced

Ambassador(s) – Shah Rukh Khan

Jersey – Purple with accents of Gold

Theme Song – Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo

Major Rival(s) – Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians

City – Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Founded – 2008; 12 years ago

Home ground – Eden Gardens (Capacity 68,000)

Kolkata Knight Riders SQUAD

The two-time IPL champions retained 14 players including Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, the three biggest players of their IPL team. The franchise went into the IPL auction with 9 slots available to fill. This Kolkata franchise also made the biggest headlines in the auction this time around for buying Pat Cummins for a sum of 15.5 crores, the highest ever purchase for an overseas player in IPL history. They also bought the 48-year-old Pravin Tambe for 20 lakhs.

Player	Role	Price
Andre Russell (R)	Batsman	8.50 crore
Harry Gurney (R)	Batsman	75 lakhs
Kamlesh Nagarkoti (R)	Batsman	3.20 crore
Lockie Ferguson (R)	Batsman	1.60 crore
Nitish Rana (R)	Batsman	3.40 crore
Prasidh Krishna (R)	Batsman	20 lakhs
Rinku Singh (R)	Batsman	80 lakhs
Shubham Gill (R)	Batsman	1.80 crore
Siddhesh Lad (R)	Batsman	20 lakhs
Eoin Morgan	Batsman	5.25 crore
Tom Banton	Batsman	1 crore
Rahul Tripathi	Batsman	60 lakhs
Dinesh Karthik (R)	Wicket Keeper	7.40 crore
Nikhil Shankar Naik	Wicket Keeper	20 lakhs
Sunil Narine (R)	All-Rounder	12.50 crore
Pat Cummins	All-Rounder	15.5 crore
Shivam Mavi (R)	All-Rounder	3 crore
Varun Chakaravarthy	All-Rounder	4 crore
Chris Green	All-Rounder	20 lakhs
Kuldeep Yadav (R)	Bowler	5.80 crore
Sandeep Warrier (R)	Bowler	20 lakhs
M Siddharth	Bowler	20 lakhs

History

2008

1. Sourav Ganguly became captain of the Kolkata based franchise.
2. The name of the team is a reference to the popular 1980s American television series Knight Rider.
3. Brendon McCullum struck 158* against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the inaugural match of the first ever IPL.
4. KKR could not repeat their first match heroics and ended the tournament in the 6th position.

2009

1. Sourav Ganguly was removed from captaincy.
2. Brendon McCullum assumed the role of the captain.
3. KKR had another miserable season finishing last this time.

2010

1. Sourav Ganguly was reinstated as the captain of the Knight Riders.
2. And yet again the team finished sixth.

2011

1. Sourav Ganguly was sacked.
2. This decision was highly criticised by fans.
3. Delhi boy, Gautam Gambhir was brought in the major auction and was handed captainship responsibilities.
4. KKR finished fourth after reaching the playoff stages for the first time.

2012

1. Sunil Narine starred throughout the season picking up 24 wickets as KKR seemed to have found their mojo.
2. Under Gambhir, the Knight Riders lifted their first IPL Trophy.

2013

1. Although Narine repeated and piled on his heroics from the previous season picking up 22 wickets, something or the other went wrong for the Riders.
2. KKR finished the tournament sixth, despite several great performances.

2014

1. Robin Uthappa and Sunil Narine starred in the league stages with former scoring 660 runs and the latter picking up 21 wickets.
2. KKR defeated KXIP lifting the IPL trophy for the second time.

2015

1. With none of the big guns firing and the captain, Gambhir, having the worst form of his career, the Knights failed to defend their crown.
2. KKR finished fifth.

2016

1. Although the Knights reached the playoffs , their advance was put to a halt and they finished fourth.

2017

1. Yet again, even after cruising their way to the playoffs, the Knights faced an upset in the second qualifier to exit the tournament third.

2018

1. Dinesh Karthik was appointed the captain of the team.
2. KKR reached Qualifier 2 and lost the match out of the tournament.
3. KKR finished 3rd.

2019

1. KKR began their season on high but lost six consecutive matches to lose that momentum.
2. Another disappointing year as KKR finishes the season at the 5th place.

2020

1. KKR’s recent additions before the 2020 IPL are- Pat Cummins, Eoin Morgan, Tom Banton, Pravin Tambe, Chris Green, M Siddharth, Varun Chakravarthy, Rahul Tripathi, Nikhil Naik.

Administration and Support Staff

CEO and Managing Director: Venky Mysore

Team & Cricket Operations Manager: NA

Head Coach: Brendon McCullum

Batting Coach: David Hussey

Bowling Coach: Kyle Mills

Fielding Coach: James Foster

Strength and Conditioning Coach: Chris Donaldson

Physiotherapist: Kamlesh Jain

KKR – Batting Stats

Most Runs: Robin Uthappa : 4411

Most Centuries: 0

Most Fifties: Robin Uthappa : 24

Fastest Fifty: Yusuf Pathan : 15 balls

Fastest Century: NA

Best Batting Average: Chris Lynn : 33.68

Best Strike Rate: Andre Russell : 369.23

Most Sixes: Robin Uthappa : 156

Most Fours: Robin Uthappa : 435

Highest Individual Score: Dinesh Karthik : 97*

KKR – Bowling Stats

Most Wickets: Piyush Chawla : 150

Best Economy: Sunil Narine : 6.67

Best Bowling Figures: Sunil Narine : 4-19-5

Best Bowling Average: Nathan Coulter-Nile : 19.97

Most Maidens: Sunil Narine : 3

Most Runs Conceded: Ryan McLaren : 4-60-2

Most 4 Wickets: Sunil Narine : 6

Most Hat-tricks: NA

Most Dot Balls: Piyush Chawla : 1109

Fan Base

Kolkata Knight Riders boasts the biggest Fan Base of all the IPL teams. Although most of it can be attributed to the involvement of the Bollywood Superstar Shah Rukh Khan, the team sure do have a certain charisma about it. Undoubtedly, KKR have always been the most glamorous of all teams earning themselves a loyal fan army over the years. From being underdogs in the first IPL season to one of the most cheered teams in the IPL, the Royals have sure come a long way. The Sawai Mansingh stadium looks like a sea of pink every time the Royals play there.