Kolkata Knight Riders is related to the foremost memory of the Indian Premier League. Cricket fans can’t forget how KKR, powered by Brendon McCullum’s scintillating century, had run down RCB in the opening match of IPL in 2008.
Their colours were changed from Black and Golden to Purple and Golden but the appearance of Bollywood Star Shahrukh Khan remained constant, something which makes them a team which has a great fan following on and off the field.
After 17 seasons, KKR have won it thrice in 2012, 2014 and 2024. They have finished in the top 4 five times while finishing as runners up in 2021.
From Sourav Ganguly to Shreyas Iyer, KKR have been led by 8 captains so far. Gautam Gambhir led KKR for the most period of time as he captained them in 122 matches over 7 seasons (2011-2017). He has also been the most successful KKR captain with two titles (2012 & 2014) and was also the mentor of the title winning side in 2024. A win percentage of 57.43 for Gambhir is only bettered by the another title winning captain Shreyas Iyer who led KKR to wins in 60.71% matches.
Effectively Gautam Gambhir was one of the protagonists in each of KKR’s title triumphs but he won’t be part of the side this season and the role of the mentor will now be taken by West Indian legend Dwayne Bravo.
Interestingly Shreyas Iyer won’t be part of their contingent and Ajinkya Rahane has been named the captain of the side. It is important to note that Ajinkya Rahane was only bought by KKR in the accelerated auction after remaining unsold in the main auction.
Kolkata Knight Riders Retentions ahead of Mega Auction-
One of the two franchises to retain the maximum players ahead of the auction, KKR had decided to retain the India core in the form of Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh with their perennial foreign companions- Sunil Narine and Andre Russell.
KKR had done half the job of their team combination at retention only. They had 12 overs covered in the form of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Harshit Rana. Many teams may have felt craving for a proper finishing core even after mega auction but KKR had that in the form of Rinku Singh, Andre Russell and Ramandeep Singh even before the auction.
Let’s see what they did at the auction.
KKR at the mega auction (The Iyer’s surprise)
KKR entered the auction with the purse of 51 Crore and no RTM card left. Surprisingly, they didn’t go much after their title winning captain Shreyas Iyer which was quite obvious as well when Iyer could not find his name in the retention list. But another Iyer (Vankatesh) raised many eyebrows when KKR management poured a lot of money to take him with them. Eventually Venkatesh was bought by KKR at a whopping 23.75 Crore, the third highest bid by KKR in IPL history.
Having spent about 50% of their purse on Venkatesh Iyer, KKR had to avoid big expenses and they tried to complete the squad with smart buys. They tried to get Mitchell Starc back at auction, who was crucial to their title winning campaign last year, but could not go far for him due to increasing bids. At the expense of Starc, they bought Anrich Nortje (6.50 Cr) and Spencer Johnson (2.80 Cr) to arm themselves with a foreign paceman.
As much as KKR were censured for that much bidding for Vankatesh Iyer, they made a great buy in the form of Moeen Ali for just 2 Crores. Moeen Ali is someone who is chased by T20 franchises across the globe, and to get him at such price was a proper steal from KKR management. Though Ali will find it difficult to get into the eleven, he is a great player to have in the options in a tournament as long as the IPL.
Players to watch out for-
From Brett Lee to Morne Morkel to Mitchell Starc, KKR is known to play with big foreign pacers in their eleven. Though these pacers have not been overly successful, they have been crucial for them at crucial junctures.
What Mitchell Starc did for KKR in knockouts was quite similar to that of Morne Morkel in 2014. This year KKR has Anrich Nortje for this job. The South African speedster comes with a healthy international experience and can be influential on other young Indian pacers in the team.
However the recent form and fitness has not been great for Nortje, he has shown his abilities in the past. The pitch at the Eden Gardens can take the best out of Anrich Nortje where he will enjoy the pace and bounce in the powerplay.
The 20 year old Angkrish Raghuvanshi who has already shown glimpses of his talent in the previous season is seen as the future of KKR batting from the Indian section. In 7 batting innings in IPL so far, Raghuvanshi has scored his runs at 23.29 with a scintillating strike rate of 155.24. He had also become the youngest player to score fifty in maiden IPL innings when scored 54 off 27 against Delhi Capitals last year.
During the auction, KKR spent as much as 3 Crore to get him back. He is expected to get more chances this year and hence some more sparkling performances from Raghuvanshi may be in the offering, which make him a player to watch out for this season.
Best possible XI of KKR-
- Sunil Narine
- Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk)
- Ajinkya Rahane (C)
- Venkatesh Iyer
- Rinku Singh
- Andre Russell
- Ramandeep Singh
- Harshit Rana
- Anrich Nortje
- Varun Chakravarthy
- Vaibhav Arora
- Angkrish Raghuvanshi (Impact)
This is expected to be their eleven when they play at home while they can opt for Moeen Ali instead of Nortje or Mayank Markande for someone like Vaibhav Arora when playing away matches in spin heavy conditions.
If things don’t go well with Rahmanullah Gurbaz at the top, they can consider playing Rahane in the opening and Moeen Ali replacing Gurbaz as the foreigner.
How can KKR fare this season?
A lot will depend on how Sunil Narine and Andre Russell play. Shreyas Iyer and Mitchell Starc were pretty crucial to their title winning campaign last year, and the absence of the both may be felt.
Their captain for the season Ajinkya Rahane was not quite successful with his batting in the last IPL season but he was in scintillating form in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy but it is understood that the volume of competition is different altogether in both tournaments.
Ajinkya Rahane was not really considered by any franchise during the auction before KKR made him their own in the accelerated auction. While Ajinkya Rahane is a class apart captain, his batting is important for him to sustain his place in the eleven. And if his batting continues to struggle, we may see a captain change for KKR during the tournament, which can be really harmful for them as a team.
The pair of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine alongside Moeen Ali in spin heavy conditions may bring consistent victories for them, but it will be interesting to see if the pace of Anrich Nortje, Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora is enough to contain the power hitters of the opponents.
If there are not some exceptional performances from their marquee players, KKR is expected to not qualify for the top four this season.
Kolkata Knight Riders Fixtures-
- KKR vs RCB, 22nd March, Kolkata
- KKR vs RR, 26th March, Guwahati
- KKR vs MI, 31st March, Mumbai
- KKR vs SRH, 3rd April, Kolkata
- KKR vs LSG, 6th April, Kolkata
- KKR vs CSK, 11th April, Chennai
- KKR vs PBKS, 15th April, Chandigarh
- KKR vs GT, 21st April, Kolkata
- KKR vs PBKS, 26th April, Kolkata
- KKR vs DC, 29th April, Delhi
- KKR vs RR, 4th May, Kolkata
- KKR vs CSK, 7th May, Kolkata
- KKR vs SRH, 10th May, Hyderabad
- KKR vs RCB, 17th May, Bengaluru
