The Kolkata Knight Riders (also known by the acronym KKR) are a franchise cricket team representing the city of Kolkata in the Indian Premier League. The franchise is owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan in partnership with actress Juhi Chawla and her spouse Jay Mehta. The team is currently captained by Gautam Gambhir and coached by Jacques Kallis, a former player of the team. The home of the Knight Riders is Eden Gardens, the largest cricket stadium in India and the third largest in the world by seating capacity.[2]
Although the team has gained immense popularity due to its association with celebrity owners, it was surrounded with controversy and poor on-field performance through the first three years of the tournament.[3] The team's performance, however, improved from the fourth season as it qualified for the IPL playoffs as well as the now defunct Champions League Twenty20. They eventually became the IPL champions for the first time in 2012, by defeating Chennai Super Kings in the final and repeated the feat in 2014, defeating Kings XI Punjab.[4] The Knight Riders hold the record for the longest winning streak by any Indian team in T20s (14).[5]
The leading run-scorer of the side is Gautam Gambhir,[6] while the leading wicket-taker is Sunil Narine.[7] The official theme of the team is Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo Re (we will act, fight and win!) and the official colours are purple and gold. The brand value of the Knight Riders was estimated at $86 million in 2015, the highest valuation amongst all eight teams by a margin.[3]
Franchise history
In 2008, The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) created the cricket tournament Indian Premier League based on the Twenty20 form of the game.[8] Eight teams would participate in the inaugural tournament held in April – June of the same year. The teams representing the eight different cities of India were put up on auction in Mumbai on 20 February. The team representing Kolkata was eventually bought by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's company Red Chillies Entertainment in partnership with actress Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta for a price of $75.09 million at that time.[9] Sourav Ganguly, the former captain of the Indian national team, a native of West Bengal (nicknamed as Bengal Tiger, Dada or Prince of Kolkata) was named the Icon Player for the team.
The name of the team is a reference to the popular 1980s American television series Knight Rider.[10] In June 2015, they bought a stake in the Caribbean Premier League cricket team Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel[11] and later in 2016, renamed it Trinbago Knight Riders.[12]
Livery
Initially, when Kolkata Knight Riders were first introduced in 2008, the logo of the team consisted of a blazing golden Viking helmet against a black background with the name of the team written in gold next to it. However, the black background was changed to purple in the third season. It was in 2012 that the current logo, which has a blazing purple Corinthian helmet trimmed with gold, with Kolkata Knight Riders written within a shield was introduced.[13]
The tagline of the team was "All the King's Men" during the first four seasons.[14] However, in the fifth it was replaced by "New Dawn, New Knights". The team's official colours were black and gold during the first two seasons. At the time, Khan said that "golden symbolizes spirit of life and black presents the Goddess Kali."[14] It was later changed to purple and gold during the third season and was kept so. The jersey was created by Bollywood fashion designer Manish Malhotra.[14]
The main theme of the team Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo Re (we will act, fight and win!) was scored by Vishal-Shekhar duo.[14] A Knight Riders album featuring several singers and music composers including Usha Uthup and Bappi Lahiri was also created.[15][16]
Home ground
The home venue of the Knight Riders is the iconic Eden Gardens (with the two ends of the crease called the High Court End and the Pavilion End). Owned by the Cricket Association of Bengal, it is the largest cricket stadium in India and had a seating capacity of over 90,000.[17] In 2011, the stadium was renovated to meet the standards set by the ICC for the 2011 Cricket World Cup; reducing its capacity to around 68,000. The renovated stadium includes a new clubhouse and players' facilities, upgrading the exterior wall, cladding the existing roof structure with a new metal skin, and general infrastructure improvements.[18] In 2013, two of the team's home matches were hosted by the JSCA International Cricket Stadium in Ranchi.
Sponsors and partners
Finnish multinational communications corporation – Nokia was the official founding sponsor of the Kolkata Knight Riders and remained their main sponsor until 2014.[19][20][3] Star Plus, Reebok, HDIL, Kit Kat, Sprite, Gitanjali Group, SB Nation, Doublemint, SAP AG, Fever 104 FM, Pan Vilas, Seiko, U.S. Polo Assn., Uber, Dish TV and CK Birla Group have all formerly been their co-sponsors and partners.
In 2015, Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Gionee took over as their principal sponsor and signed a three-year deal worth ₹540 million (US$8.0 million).[21] As of 2016, they have co-sponsorship deals with Royal Stag, Sansui Electric, Viacom 18, Lux Cozi, SRMB Steel, The Telegraph, Pepsi, Red FM 93.5, Adamas University, Ola Cabs, ICICI Bank, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Lafarge and Fancy.com.[22]
Players
Sourav Ganguly, the former captain of the Indian cricket team was the icon player and led the franchise in the inaugural season and 2010. Brendon McCullum lead the team in the intervening period. Both captains were released before the 2011 season. The former team included all-rounders Chris Gayle, David Hussey, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Angelo Mathews, batsman Ricky Ponting and wicket keepers Brendon McCullum and Wriddhiman Saha. The main bowlers were Shane Bond, Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Ajit Agarkar and Murali Karthik. Australian batsman Brad Hodge and bowlers Ajantha Mendis and Charl Langeveldt were bought outside the IPL Auction in late 2008.
At the 2009 auction the team bought Bangladeshi all-rounder Mashrafe Mortaza. Due to unavailability of Pakistani players starting 2009, KKR had to suspend the contract of Umar Gul, who was a key performer from the 2008 season.[23][24] On 26 April 2009, KKR administration sent back two of its players Akash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar on the premises of poor performance.[25] Shane Bond was acquired after releasing Ricky Ponting, Morne van Wyk and the Pakistani players Umar Gul, Salman Butt, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Akhtar before the third season. Moises Henriques was traded to Delhi in return for Owais Shah and Manoj Tiwary. Thus, their international roster for the 2010 season consisted of Shane Bond, Mashrafe Mortaza, Brendon McCullum, Charl Langeveldt, Ajantha Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Owais Shah and Chris Gayle.
In the 2011 season, KKR drastically revamped their squad. Former captain and icon player Sourav Ganguly was not purchased in the January auction. The team appointed Gautam Gambhir, who was bought for a record-breaking $2.4 million as skipper.[26] Yusuf Pathan was also picked up for a whopping $2.1 million.[26] Other international names who were added include Shakib Al Hasan, Brad Haddin, Jacques Kallis, Brett Lee, Ryan ten Doeschate, Eoin Morgan and James Pattinson. Haddin was replaced by Mark Boucher mid-season due to injury.[26]
In the 2012 auction, KKR bought back their former captain, Brendon McCullum. They also acquired West Indian spinner Sunil Narine and South African fast bowler Marchant de Lange.
The team later added four domestic players to their squad, including Debabrata Das and Iresh Saxena from Bengal, Saurashtra's Chirag Jani and Sanju Samson from Kerala.[27] However, in November 2012, KKR released the latter three from their team along with Jaydev Unadkat, a key performer from the previous seasons. In the 2013 auction, the team acquired only two overseas players, Sachithra Senanayake and Ryan McLaren.
Before the February 2014 auction, the team had only retained their key performers Gautam Gambhir and Sunil Narine. From the auctions that took place, the team brought back Jacques Kallis and Yusuf Pathan with their right-to-match (RTM) card. Also keeping their place in the squad was Ryan ten Doeschate and Shakib Al Hasan. New international players were Morne Morkel, Patrick Cummins and Chris Lynn. Prominent Indian players bought included Robin Uthappa, Umesh Yadav, Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav and Piyush Chawla.
KKR's impressive additions in the 2015 auction were veteran Australian bowler Brad Hogg and wicket-keeper Sheldon Jackson. Before the auction in February 2016, they released Ryan ten Doeschate who was a part of their team for five consecutive seasons along with pace bowler Pat Cummins. The Knight Riders were particularly noted for their change in approach from the previous auctions where they had concentrated on spinners. For the 2016 edition, however, they acquired as many as six pacers in the form of all-rounders John Hastings, Colin Munro, Jason Holder and Rajagopal Sathish as well as bowlers Ankit Rajpoot and Jaydev Unadkat, with the latter being a former player of the squad.[28]
Seasons
The Knight Riders qualified for the Champions League Twenty20 in 2011, 2012 and 2014. The latter was the last edition of the tournament before it being permanently called off. The team was eliminated in the group stage in 2011 and 2012, but finished as runners-up in the ultimate season.
Current squad
- Players with international caps are listed in bold.
- * denotes a player who is currently unavailable for selection.
- * denotes a player who is unavailable for rest of the season.
| No. |
Name |
Nationality |
Birth date |
Batting style |
Bowling style |
Signed year |
Salary[29] |
Notes |
| Batsmen |
| 1 | Manish Pandey |  | (1989-09-10) 10 September 1989 | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2014 | ₹17 million (US$250,000) | |
| 10 | Robin Uthappa | | (1985-09-11) 11 September 1985 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2014 | ₹50 million (US$740,000) | Occasional wicketkeeper |
| 23 | Gautam Gambhir | | (1981-10-14) 14 October 1981 | Left-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2014 | ₹100 million (US$1.5 million) | Captain |
| 50 | Chris Lynn |  | (1990-04-10) 10 April 1990 | Right-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | 2014 | ₹13 million (US$190,000) | Overseas |
| 82 | Colin Munro |  | (1987-03-11) 11 March 1987 | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | 2016 | ₹3 million (US$45,000) | Overseas |
| 212 | Suryakumar Yadav | | (1990-09-14) 14 September 1990 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2014 | ₹7 million (US$100,000) | Vice-captain |
| All-rounders |
| 7 | Rajagopal Sathish | | (1981-01-14) 14 January 1981 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2016 | ₹2 million (US$30,000) | |
| 09 | Manan Sharma | | (1991-03-19) 19 March 1991 | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | 2016 | ₹1 million (US$15,000) | |
| 12 | Andre Russell |  | (1988-04-29) 29 April 1988 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | 2014 | ₹6 million (US$89,000) | Overseas |
| 24 | Yusuf Pathan | | (1982-11-17) 17 November 1982 | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2014 | ₹32.5 million (US$480,000) | |
| 41 | John Hastings[lower-alpha 1] | | (1985-11-04) 4 November 1985 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | 2016 | ₹13 million (US$190,000) | Overseas |
| 75 | Shakib Al Hasan |  | (1987-03-24) 24 March 1987 | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | 2014 | ₹28 million (US$420,000) | Overseas |
| 98 | Jason Holder |  | (1991-11-05) 5 November 1991 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | 2016 | ₹7 million (US$100,000) | |
| Wicket-keepers |
| 27 | Sheldon Jackson | | (1986-09-27) 27 September 1986 | Right-handed | | 2015 | ₹1.5 million (US$22,000) |
| Bowlers |
| 03 | Ankit Rajpoot | | (1993-12-04) 4 December 1993 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | 2016 | ₹15 million (US$220,000) | |
| 18 | Kuldeep Yadav | | (1994-12-14) 14 December 1994 | Left-handed | Slow left-arm chinaman | 2014 | ₹4 million (US$59,000) | |
| 19 | Umesh Yadav | | (1987-10-25) 25 October 1987 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | 2014 | ₹26 million (US$390,000) | |
| 21 | Piyush Chawla | | (1988-12-24) 24 December 1988 | Left-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2014 | ₹42.5 million (US$630,000) | |
| 31 | Brad Hogg | | (1971-02-06) 6 February 1971 | Left-handed | Slow left-arm chinaman | 2015 | ₹5 million (US$74,000) | Overseas |
| 65 | Morne Morkel |  | (1984-10-06) 6 October 1984 | Left-handed | Right-arm fast | 2014 | ₹28 million (US$420,000) | Overseas |
| 74 | Sunil Narine |  | (1988-05-26) 26 May 1988 | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | 2014 | ₹80 million (US$1.2 million) | Overseas |
| 77 | Jaydev Unadkat | | (1992-10-18) 18 October 1992 | Right-handed | Left-arm medium-fast | 2016 | ₹16 million (US$240,000) | |
- ↑ ruled out of the season with an injury
Administration and support staff
- Head coaches
Statistics
Overall results
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 | 9 | 1 | 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 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 68.75 | 1/8 |
| 2015 |
14 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 53.84 | 5/8 |
| Total |
121 | 60 | 55 | 2 | 4 | 51.28 |
- Abandoned matches are counted as NR (no result)
- Win or Loss by Super Over or Boundary Count are counted as Tied
Result summary
Overall Results in CLT20
Kolkata Knight Riders Overall Results In CLT20
| Year | Matches | Wins | Losses | No Result | Win % | Summary |
| 2011 |
6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 50.00 | 5/10 (13) |
| 2012 |
4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 33.33 | 6/10 (14) |
| 2014 |
6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 83.33 | 2/10 (14) |
| Total |
16 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 60.00 | |
References
External links
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| | Lists | |
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| | Home ground | |
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| | Captains | |
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| | Coaches | |
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| | Honours | |
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| | Seasons | |
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| | Affiliated teams | |
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| | People | |
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| | Films | |
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| | Television |
- Ghar Ki Baat (2009)
- Ladies First (2009)
- Tere Mere Beach Mein (2009)
- Knights and Angels (2009)
- Ishaan: Sapno Ko Awaaz De (2010)
- Living with a Superstar: Shah Rukh Khan (2010)
- Luv Ho Jaane De (2010)
- Like I Love You (2010)
- Men Will Be Men (2011)
- Filmy Dabba Party (2011)
- Ye Parindey (2011)
- Live My Life (2011)
- Up Close and Personal with Preity Zinta (2011)
- Coke Studio MTV (2011)
- MTV Unplugged (2011)
- Revealed: The Making of Ra.One (2012)
- Superstar Santa (2012)
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| | Assets | |
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Somerset Sabres 
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