Is the KKR of 2024 their best IPL side ever?

After beating SunRisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 1 of IPL 2024, Kolkata Knight Riders await the winners of Qualifier 2 in the all-important final to be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk, Chennai on Sunday, May 26. KKR have been one of the best sides this tournament and ended the league phase on top of the standings.

This allowed them to play in Qualifier 1, where, as mentioned they beat SRH, another fine team.

A lot has been spoken about how KKR seems to be near-indestructible in IPL 2024, with much emphasis given upon the return of their former captain Gautam Gambhir to their fold as mentor.

Gambhir is known to possess a winning mentality and has infused everyone in the setup with it and infected them with his highly competitive mindset. It is worth mentioning that despite being a sitting Member of Parliament, Gambhir chose not to contest in the general elections this year.

KKR have been visibly affected by his presence in their dugout, and while not all credit can be given to him, some of it can be accorded in his favor for sure as he has been a hugely positive influence.

As my colleague Rudransh Khurana has already eloquently written, KKR appears to be a side filled with players whose mentality marks them as different from their competitors.

As to whether this is the best KKR side to have ever played in this competition, the question is up for genuine debate. Yes, they have filled almost every position they needed with players of utility, but when Gambhir led them to titles in the 2012 and 2014 seasons, they weren't far off the mark either.

This season, what has worked well for the Knights is that the opening conundrum, often seen as being vacant from the time Gambhir walked away, has been filled by the most unlikely of pairs - Phil Salt and Sunil Narine.

While Salt and his Trinidadian partner went all guns blazing throughout the season, the former had to rush back home to prepare for a series against Pakistan ahead of Qualifier 1 and was replaced by Rahmanullah Gurbaz - who did well too.

KKR seem to have all bases covered in IPL 2024

KKR appears to have covered most bases this season, with the big-money purchase of Mitchell Starc leading the show for them with the ball in hand. Although the Aussie had an indifferent start to the season, his performance in Qualifier 1 was spell-binding.

What differentiates Starc from his competitors and why he is a different beast altogether when the playoffs of any competition come calling; KKR seems to have invested well.

The likes of Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana have provided Starc with enough support with the ball in hand, with KKR loyalty membership card holders Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Andre Russell bringing up the rear, so to speak.

In the batting department, skipper Shreyas Iyer has stood up from time to time to lead his team from the front while Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh have shown signs of immense maturity and faith in their game.

The young guns Ramandeep Singh and Angkrish Raghuvanshi have put their hands up and not shied away from taking challenges whenever the going has got tough for them. In short, this side seems to be on top in every department.

While the likes of Brendon McCullum and Brett Lee played crucial roles for KKR in the 2012 season which they won by beating CSK in the final at Chepauk; it was all-rounder Jacques Kallis who tilted the tournament in their favor with his subtle performances.

The 2014 title-winning KKR side had giants such as Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav, Piyush Chawla, R Vinay Kumar, Chris Lynn adding to their already-heavy side.

Hence, if one were to go for a comparison between the best KKR sides of all time, the 2014 one has a pretty good chance of emerging on top although the 2024 one is not too far behind.