About the team: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is a franchise based in Indian Premier League which represents the city of Kolkata. Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta are the owners of the team. The Knight Riders play their home games at the renowned Eden Gardens stadium.
The franchise, which has grown in popularity as a result of its relationship with celebrity owners, qualified for the first time for the IPL playoffs in 2011. They won the 2012 Indian Premier League after beating Chennai Super Kings in the final. In 2014, they replicated the feat by beating Kings XI Punjab. The Knight Riders hold the record for the longest winning run of any Indian T20 squad (14).
Gautam Gambhir is the team's all-time highest run scorer, while Sunil Narine is the team's leading wicket taker. The official tagline of Kolkata Knight Riders is Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo Re.
Players Retained
They have retained 4 players, the first one being Andre Russell for Rs 12 crores (Rs 16 crores was deducted from their purse for this retention). They then retained Varun Chakravarthy for Rs 8 crores (Rs 12 crores was deducted from their purse). Their 3rd retention was of Venkatesh Iyer for Rs 8 crores, and the 4th retention was of Sunil Narine for Rs 6 crores.
Day 1 of the Auction
On day 1 of the auction, although KKR bought many good players, the price at which they bought most of them was immensely high. They initially bought Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins at Rs 7.25 Crores. They then bought their would-be-captain Shreyas Iyer after an immense battle for Rs 12.25 crores. They also bought Nitish Rana for Rs 8 Crores, followed by Shivam Mavi for Rs 7.25 crores and Sheldon Jackson for Rs 60 lakhs.
Day 2 of the Auction
After having a mediocre day on day 1 of the auction, KKR did many great buys at a great price on the day 2 of the auction, as they bought the likes of Alex Hales, Sam Billings, Mohammad Nabi, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav and a few other great players even though the budget they had was less than 13 crores on the second day. Initially they bought Ajinkya Rahane for Rs 1 crore, followed by Rinku Singh for Rs 55 lakhs. They then bought Anukul Roy for Rs 20 lakhs, followed by Rasikh Dar for Rs 20 lakhs. After that they bought Baba Indrajith for Rs 20 lakhs, followed by Chamika Karunaratne for Rs 50 lakhs, followed by Abhijeet Tomar for Rs 40 lakhs. They bought Pratham Singh for Rs 20 lakhs. They then bought Ashok Sharma for 55 lakhs. They went after the English wicketkeeper Sam Billings and bought him for Rs 2 crores. The English batsman, Alex Hales was bought by them for Rs 1.5 crores. They also bought the Kiwi fast bowler Tim Southee for Rs 1.5 crores. They also bought Ramesh Kumar for Rs 20 lakhs and Mohammad Nabi for Rs 1 crore, followed by Umesh Yadav for Rs 2 crores and the final purchase made by them was that of Aman Khan for Rs 20 lakhs. They ended the auction overall on a high-note.
KKR TOTAL PLAYERS BOUGHT: 25
INDIAN PLAYERS BOUGHT: 17
OVERSEAS PLAYERS BOUGHT: 8
BATSMAN:
- Abhijeet Tomar (Rs 40 lakhs)
- Ajinkya Rahane (Rs 1 crore)
- Alex Hales (Rs 1.5 crores)
- Aman Khan (Rs 20 lakhs)
- Nitish Rana (Rs 8 crores)
- Pratham Singh (Rs 20 lakhs)
- Ramesh Kumar (Rs 20 lakhs)
- Rinku Singh (Rs 55 lakhs)
- Shreyas Iyer (Rs 12.25 crores)
ALL-ROUNDERS:
- Andre Russell (Rs 12 crores, 16 crores deducted)
- Anukul Roy (Rs 20 lakhs)
- Chamika Karunaratne (Rs 50 lakhs)
- Mohammad Nabi (Rs 1 crore)
- Shivam Mavi (Rs 7.25 crores)
- Sunil Narine (Rs 6 crores)
- Venkatesh Iyer (Rs 8 crores)
WICKETKEEPERS
- Baba Indrajith (Rs 20 lakhs)
- Sam Billings (Rs 2 crores)
- Sheldon Jackson (Rs 60 lakhs)
SPINNER
- Varun Chakravarthy (Rs 8 crores, Rs 12 crores deducted)
PACERS
- Ashok Sharma (Rs 55 lakhs)
- Pat Cummins (Rs 7.25 crores)
- Rasikh Dar (Rs 20 lakhs)
- Tim Southee (Rs 1.5 crores)
- Umesh Yadav (Rs 2 crores)
BEST PLAYING 11:
- Venkatesh Iyer
- Alex Hales
- Nitish Rana
- Shreyas Iyer (C)
- Ajinkya Rahane
- Andre Russell
- Sheldon Jackson (WK)
- Pat Cummins
- Sunil Narine
- Shivam Mavi
- Varun Chakravarthy
