Team: Kolkata Knight Riders
City: Kolkata, West Bengal
Ground: Eden Gardens
IPL Debut: 2008
Number of IPL Titles: 2
Who Are the Kolkata Knight Riders?
The Kolkata Knight Riders are one of the most popular franchises in the history of the Indian Premier League. They are one of the first eight franchises playing since the inaugural edition of the IPL and continue to be a very competitive side even now. The iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata, which has a capacity of 68,000, is the home ground of the Knight Riders.
Bollywood Superstars Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla are two of the co-owners of the Kolkata Knight Riders. Chawla’s spouse Jay Mehta and Red Chillies Entertainment are the other two owners.
The Knight Riders have one of the biggest fan bases in the IPL and they are well supported across the nation and all over the world. ‘Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo’ has been one of the most popular slogans for the team and their fans ever since the inaugural edition whereas ‘KKR, Hai Taiyar’ has been the fan anthem for the last couple of seasons.
The IPL History of Kolkata Knight Riders
The Kolkata Knight Riders have won the Indian Premier League twice. They won their first title in 2012 and went on to be the Champions again in 2014, both times under the leadership of Gautam Gambhir. KKR haven’t been able to win any title since then but they came quite close in 2021 as they went into the finals, where Chennai Super Kings defeated them to win their fourth IPL title.
Apart from these two titles and the appearance in the final in 2021, KKR have also made it to the playoffs on four more occasions in 2011, 2016, 2017 and 2018. They had been a really consistent side between 2016-2018 but somehow failed to progress to the final hurdle.
KKR are being led by 27-year-old batter Shreyas Iyer now and former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum is their head coach.
Who Holds the Kolkata Knight Riders Records?
Former India batter and KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir holds the record for the most runs scored for them in the IPL. Gambhir has a total of 3035 runs to his name at an average of 31.61 in the 108 matches he played for the franchise between 2011 and 2017.
Robin Uthappa is the second highest run-scorer for KKR with 2439 runs at 30.48 whereas Yusuf Pathan is at third with 1893 runs to his name. Robin Uthappa isn’t associated with KKR anymore whereas Gambhir and Pathan have retired. Next in the list are Andre Russell and Nitish Rana with 1821 and 1524 runs to their names respectively. Both players still play for KKR.
As far as the record for the highest individual score goes, it belongs to Brendon McCullum, KKR’s current coach. McCullum smashed 158* in the first ever IPL match in 2008 and it remains the highest score by a KKR batter and only century scorer by them to date.
Sunil Narine has been another legendary player for KKR over the years. He is their highest wicket-taker in the history of the IPL with 149 wickets to his name at an average of 24.48. Andre Russell is next in the list with 77 wickets. Both players have a long association with the franchise.
While Narine joined KKR in 2012, Russell joined the franchise in 2014. Russell again holds the record for the best bowling figures by a KKR bowler. He claimed 5/15 in the match against Mumbai Indians in 2021.
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