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Basic Info: Kolkata Knight Riders 2019
Team Name: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
Founded in: 2008
Home City: Kolkata, West Bengal
Home Ground: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Capacity: 90,000
Owners: Shah Rukh Khan (Red Chilies Entertainment), Juhi Chawla & Jai Mehta (Mehta Group)
IPL Champions: 2012, 2014
Official Website: kkr.in
Slogan: Korbo Lodbo Jeetbo
Brief History
Kolkata Knight Riders known as KKR was founded in the year 2008 after the Board of Control for Cricket in India floated the idea of the Indian Premier League and invited bids for the eight franchises to form a city based team. During the team Auctions on 20th February, 2008, the Kolkata City franchise was jointly bought by the Bollywood Superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla and her husband, Jai Mehta. Shah Rukh Khan is owner/partner in Red Chilies Entertainment and Juhi and Jai Mehta owns the Mehta Group. This partnership bought the Franchise at the price of Indian Rupees 300 crore or US$ 75 million. Former Indian captain and local boy Sourav Ganguly was made the captain and John Buchanan from Australia was made the coach. Ganguly was having the ‘Icon’ status during the first IPL.
KKR in IPL
KKR had a dream start to their IPL when in the very first match of the IPL Brendon McCullum took the game away from the Royal Challengers Bangalore by hitting 158 runs in no time. But after winning first two matches rather easily KKR’s performance began to dip. The morale was so low that they even bundled out for 67 runs against the Mumbai Indians. The second season was played in South Africa due to elections in India. This year was marred by controversies for the team KKR. Sourav Ganguly was dropped as a captain and Brendon McCullum was made the captain. Ganguly and the Coach Buchanan often had differences and team finished at the 8th place.
3rd IPL was probably the best season till that time for KKR by finishing at 5th position with having their heads high but again the indifferent performance this season was a matter of concern for KKR. In the 4th IPL one of the icons of the first IPL, Sourav Ganguly was dropped and not picked back in the Auctions by the KKR and bought players like Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan. The decision looked as if it has been paid off when KKR reached the ‘Play offs’. But in the playoffs Laxmipathy Balaji gave away 21 runs against Mumbai Indian in the last over and in the eliminator and KKR lost the chance to qualify for the semis for the first time ever.
2012 IPL was the best season by far for the KKR. The decision to buy back Brendon McCullum and buying Sunil Narine paid off. Despite getting off to a poor start they gathered some momentum and at last they won the title this time, much to the delight of their owner, Shah Rukh Khan. Earlier that season Shah Rukh Khan was involved in a spat with a security guard at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and he was banned there for five years.
Last year too was another disappointing season for the KKR as they not only failed to retain the title, but because of indifferent performances throughout the season finished 7th in the list.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Squad for IPL 12 (2019)
Players Retained:
Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shubman Gill, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti
Players Bought:
Carlos Brathwaite, Lockie Ferguson, Anrich Nortje, Nikhil Naik, Harry Gurney, Yarra Prithviraj, Joe Denly, Shrikant Mundhe
Players Released:
Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, Tom Curran, Cameron Delport, Ishank Jaggi, Vinay Kumar, Apoorv Wankhade, Javon Searles
