Owned by famous Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) burst on to the scene back in 2011, going on to win the IFL championship the following year, which has helped them gain popularity across the world.
They repeated their success in 2014, defeating Kings XI Punjab, included their record breaking win streak by any Indian team in Twenty20 cricket.
The Kolkata Knight Riders haven’t managed to replicate their two-time success since 2014 but with the recent purchase of Aussie pace bowler Pat Cummins and Irish cricketer Eoin Morgan, they’re hoping to close the gap on the teams above them this year.
The KKR are captained by wicket-keeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik who not only has an impressive 3,654 runs in the IPL under his belt, he was also was coached by previous New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum.
The KKR play their home games at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata, which up until renovations in 2011, was the largest cricket stadium in India with a capacity of 90,000. The cricket ground now holds up to 68,000, which still makes it one of the best cricket atmospheres in the league.
With a massive overhaul of the team taking place in 2019, eight players were released from the squad including Mitchell Starc and Tom Curran. To replace them, Carlos Brathwaite was brought in for INR50 million (over Dhs2.5 million) and New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson for INR16 million (nearly Dhs810,000).
A further 11 players were released at the beginning of this year’s IPL, with Siddhesh Lad being traded in from the Mumbai Indians.
For more information about this year’s IPL including guides to the other teams, click here.
