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Kolkata Knight Riders are the glamour destination of the Indian Premier League. When a team is headed by Bollywood’s biggest superstar, Shah Rukh Khan, it is a folly to expect otherwise.
Fittingly, the IPL journey of Kolkata Knight Riders over the years has been dramatic. The side floundered in the first few seasons and suffered from hardships. With a fresh mindset, they started rebuilding and unearthed new glories. Kolkata Knight Riders have since added two IPL trophies to their cabinet.
KKR’s IPL journey since 2008 has been full of ups and downs. The team was supported, detested and supported by the same set of passionate people. Representing the metro city of Kolkata, the Knight Riders had to conquer the toughest fans.
After the turmoil that involved John Buchanan, Sourav Ganguly, and Shah Rukh Khan, the team excelled at cricket in the later years. In IPL 2018, the team received heavy backing from its fans and finished at the third place. Let us roll back the years and relive the whole journey.
#1 IPL 2008 - (6th position)
Cricket’s extravaganza began in the year 2008 with franchises buying the teams and players for millions of dollars. Ganguly was appointed as the icon player for the Kolkata Knight Riders. The team included Ricky Ponting, the then latest sensational fast bowler Ishant Sharma, New Zealand’s big-hitter Brendon McCullum and the Pakistani pace pair of Umar Gul and Shoaib Akhtar.
KKR played in the first match of the IPL and began the tournament in the most explosive way possible. McCullum creamed 158* in the first match against Royal Challengers Bangalore and set the ball rolling.
The side won the second match as well but then embarked on a four-match losing streak. Ganguly and Akhtar tried to revive the campaign but they went on to lose three matches in a row.
The Knight Riders ended the first season at the sixth spot with six wins and seven losses. Ganguly topped the run-charts while Gul emerged as the leading wicket-taker.
Rating: 4/10
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#2 IPL 2009 - (8th position)
If the first season was terrible, the second IPL season for Kolkata Knight Riders was an absolute disaster. In all the eleven seasons played out so far, the 2009 edition in South Africa remains Kolkata’s worst performance.
They were not only clueless on the field, but they had plenty of management problems to deal with as well. The ‘Fake Player’ blog had gained heat, and it harmed the team dynamics. Buchanan experimented with his 'multiple captains' theory and it made the team a laughing stock.
The team this year had illustrious names like Chris Gayle, Brad Hodge, Ajantha Mendis, and others. After winning their second match, KKR lost to Rajasthan Royals in a super over. This defeat sparked a streak of nine successive losses for Sourav Ganguly’s team. KKR could only muster three wins in the whole tournament and finished at the eighth and the last position.
Rating - 1/10
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#3 IPL 2010 - (6th position)
After ending up at the last spot in the previous season, the repercussions caused Buchanan to vacate the coach’s position. Ganguly retained the captaincy, and Dav Whatmore was appointed as coach. KKR also added New Zealand’s speedster Shane Bond to the roster. Manoj Tiwary was traded into the side, and he proved his worth with two Man of the Matches in the season.
Kolkata Knight Riders began the 2010 season well, with two consecutive wins but they were soon pulled back to earth with three successive losses. KKR followed it up with few wins and losses and kept themselves alive in the race for the playoffs. By the end of the season, four teams had 14 points in their kitty, and negative net run-rate threw KKR out of the competition.
It was a successful personal outing for Ganguly who scored 493 runs in just 14 matches.
Rating - 4/10
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#4 IPL 2011 - (4th position)
The fans were in no mood of the IPL after India had clinched its historic World Cup win but the carnival continued, nevertheless. After being the butt of all jokes in the first three seasons, Kolkata Knight Riders took a decision to revamp themselves.
The process began with the most controversial sacking in IPL history. Kolkata franchise bought the Delhi batsman Gautam Gambhir in place of city’s icon Ganguly.
Along with the captain, KKR changed its player roster, and they became a new-look side with the inclusions of Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Jacques Kallis and many more. The franchise had to win back the love of their home fans with numerous victories.
By the end of the season, Knight Riders ended fourth in the league stage with eight wins in 14 matches and qualified for the playoffs for the first time. Their journey ended in the eliminator against Mumbai Indians.
Rating - 6/10
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#5 IPL 2012 - (Champions)
The satisfactory result of IPL 2011 boosted KKR’s confidence further and they managed to achieve the best result possible in 2012. The championship win cast away all negative fans and converted them into the supporters of the King’s army. That year, Kolkata Knight Riders bought the mystery spinner Sunil Narine and the explosive batsman Brendon McCullum.
The Knight Riders began in a disappointing fashion with two losses in a row. After this, Lakshmipathy Balaji and Shakib al Hasan helped them get back to the winning ways in the next two games. A heart-breaking two-run defeat against KXIP then spurred KKR to a winning streak of six matches (not counting an abandoned match).
Gambhir’s team finished at the second spot in the league stage with 10 wins from 16 matches. Kolkata team then defeated Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings in successive games to etch their name on the glinting trophy.
Narine picked up 24 wickets in the winning campaign while Gambhir topped the run-charts with 590 runs.
Rating - 10/10
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#6 IPL 2013 - (7th position)
The success of the past two seasons deserted Kolkata Knight Riders this year. They succumbed to the seventh position in the league stage and failed to make a case for the playoffs.
The only silver lining to the campaign was the form of Gambhir and Narine. Both once again topped the team’s runs and wickets tally respectively. Gambhir scored 406 runs in the season while Narine walked away with 22 wickets from 16 matches.
KKR began the tournament with a win over Delhi Daredevils where Narine picked up four wickets. However, the team managed to win only one of its next six matches. This proved detrimental to their journey in the season and a few wins in the subsequent games did not make much difference. KKR ended the season at the seventh spot with six wins in 16 matches.
Rating - 3/10
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#7 IPL 2014 - Champions
Ahead of the 2014 IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders retained only Gambhir and Narine. In the auction, they bought back their gun players in Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan, Kallis, etc.
In addition, KKR signed the Karnataka batsman Robin Uthappa and the Australian sensation Chris Lynn. KKR began the UAE leg of the tournament with a win over Mumbai Indians but lost three of its next four matches.
After losing first two matches back in India, KKR embarked on a stunning winning spree of nine matches. Seven of these matches were in the league stage. Gambhir and Uthappa dominated with the bat and KKR ended second in the league stage with nine wins from 14 matches.
They then defeated Kings XI Punjab twice (Qualifier One and Final) to emerge Champions for the second time. Uthappa finished as the highest run-getter of the tournament (Orange Cap) with 660 runs while Narine topped the wickets list with 21 scalps.
Rating - 9/10
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#8 IPL 2015 - (5th position)
Kolkata Knight Riders narrowly missed out the playoff qualification as they ended up at the fifth position. The team, however, unearthed a T20 superstar in the season.
The Jamaican all-rounder Andre Russell exhibited his explosive batting skills and won matches single-handedly for his side. He became Man of the Match three times for his sparkling half-centuries. Yet the lack of support from his teammates meant the team not getting enough wins.
The Knight Riders were well on course with three wins from their first four matches. However, they lost their way in the middle, and they had to compete with three sides to gain entry in the playoffs. KKR lost two close matches in the final stage and it knocked them out from the race. Six losses from 14 matches stalled them at the fifth spot.
Rating - 4/10
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#9 IPL 2016 - (4th position)
Kallis changed his player’s boot and took up the coach’s gear for this season. Wasim Akram was the bowling coach of Kolkata Knight Riders. It was a satisfying tournament for the team as they ended up with more wins than losses.
Russell’s 3/24 helped them get off to a winning start. The batsmen then stepped up and three fifties from Gambhir, Uthappa, and Suryakumar Yadav helped KKR earn three wins in as many games.
Riding on Rusell’s all-around skills, the Knight Riders finished at the fourth position in the league stage. The side enjoyed eight wins from the 14 matches. KKR then faced Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator and lost by 22 runs.
The loss concluded their campaign. Gambhir once again topped the run-charts with 501 runs while Russell impressed with 15 wickets.
Rating - 7/10
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#10 IPL 2017 - (3rd position)
Kolkata Knight Riders faced a major blow in this season. Their star all-rounder Russell faced a year-ban for violation of ICC’s doping code.
KKR replaced him with Colin de Grandhomme and purchased other internationals like Trent Boult, Chris Woakes and Darren Bravo. They began the season in an explosive fashion as Lynn’s 41-ball 93 helped KKR chase down 184 runs in just 15 overs.
KKR played a few more remarkable matches in the 2017 season. The most notable was game against RCB at Eden Gardens. After getting all-out for 131 runs, KKR skittled RCB down for just 49 runs. This was the lowest total and shortest innings in IPL history.
With eight wins under their belt, Kolkata ended up at the fourth spot and qualified for the playoffs. They defeated SRH in the rain-marred encounter but lost to Mumbai Indians in the second Qualifier. Gambhir was the leading run-getter for the team with 498 runs.
Rating - 8/10
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#11 IPL 2018 - (3rd position)
Kolkata Knight Riders lost their greatest run-scorer in Gambhir. The left-handed batsman was released and went on to represent his home team, Delhi Daredevils. Dinesh Karthik was promoted as the team captain and handled the reigns with exceptional grace.
KKR was poor in the auctions and went after prominent names and youngsters. They ended up with the smallest squad in the competition but still had a few formidable names. Alongside Lynn, Uthappa, Nitish Rana in the batting department, they had the spinning trio, Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, and Piyush Chawla.
Russell returned to the action after his ban and set the stage on fire straight away. His knock of 88 not out from 36 balls, was a spectacular treat. KKR eventually finished at the third spot with eight wins from their 14 matches.
They defeated the Rajasthan Royals with ease in the Eliminator but stumbled against the spin of Rashid Khan as SRH claimed a 14-run win. Captain Karthik was KKR’s highest run-getter in the season while Kuldeep-Narine finished as joint-highest wicket-takers.
Rating - 8/10
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