IPL 2022: Kolkata Knight Riders Factbox, the lost riders slowly finding their way back – Firstcricket News, Firstpost
IPL titles: 2
Kolkata Knight Riders Kolkata Knight Riders have won the league twice, in 2012 and 2014. They are third in the most titles category with Mumbai Indians leading with four followed by Chennai Super Kings with three. KKR have made it to the playoffs six times in 13 seasons including winning two championships. They have had a start-stop record in the league recently and didn’t managed to reach the final since 2014 until the last season where they launched a comeback in the second leg and ended up as runners-up.
Here’s how they have fared year on year
How did they fare in the previous season: KKR launched a stunning fightback after losing five of the first seven games to qualify for the play-offs. They went all the way to the final, only to end up short against Chennai Super Kings and end runners-up. They won five of the seven matches of the second leg in the UAE and qualified for the final on better run-rate in a two way race with Mumbai Indians.
Win percentage: 52.15
KKR have the third-best win percentage of 52.15 having won 107 of the 209 matches played. They have lost 98 matches.
Highest run-getter: Gautam Gambhir
Gambhir has been KKR’s all-time highest run-getter with 3035 runs from 108 innings at 31.61. He amassed 27 fifties and possessed a strike rate of 124.28.
From the current crop, Andre Russell is the highest run-getter with 1642 runs from 66 innings at 30.40. He’s hit nine fifties and possesses a staggering strike rate of 180.04.
Highest wicket-taker: Sunil Narine
Narine has scalped most wickets for KKR with 143 wickets from 133 innings at 24.53. He boasts an impressive economy rate of 6.74 and an average of 24.53. He has one five-wicket and seven four-wicket hauls.
Highest individual score: Brendon McCullum 158 not out vs RCB at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
McCullum set the ball rolling in the very first match of the IPL with iconic innings of 158 from 73 balls including 13 sixes and 10 fours. The record of the innings being the highest score in IPL remained for five years before Chris Gayle surpassed it with 175 not out at the same venue against Pune Warriors in 2013. It still remains the second-highest individual score in the league.
Highest team score: 245/6 vs KXIP in Indore:
Powered by half-centuries from Sunil Narine the opener (75 off 36 balls) and captain Dinesh Karthik (50 off 23 balls), KKR posted 245/6 batting first against KXIP at the Holkar Stadium in 2018. KKR won the match as KXIP fell short by 31 runs.
Favourite opponent: Kings XI Punjab
KKR have had the most success against KXIP (For teams against whom KKR has played 10 or more matches). They have a 65.51 percent win record against them having won 19 of the 29 matches and lost 10.
Bogey opponent: Mumbai Indians
KKR haven’t had a great time against MI having lost 22 of the 29 matches and won just 7 with a win percentage of just 24.13, their least against all teams (For teams against whom KKR has played 10 or more matches).
When they played in the UAE: They didn’t have the best of starts to the league in 2014, winning just 2 out of five in the UAE leg. However, they bounced back hard in the Indian leg and went on to win the title that year. When they returned in 2020, they couldn’t make it to the playoff and ended fifth.
However, the 2021 edition was a fruitful one as they bounced back strong to win five of the seven matches of the UAE leg and qualify for the play-offs, after having lost five of the first seven matches in the Indian leg.
Lesser known facts:
- KKR also hold the record for most consecutive wins in a season and overall. They won 9 matches on a trot in 2014 and extended it to 10 at the start of the 2015 season.
- Gautam Gambhir scored 1343 runs at an average of 34.44 from 44 innings at Eden Gardens, Kolkata – the most by any KKR player at a single venue in IPL.
- Sunil Narine has taken 56 wickets from 45 matches at a SR of 18.29 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata in IPL – the most by any KKR player at a single venue.
Retentions, purchases and squad
Players retained: Andre Russell (WI allrounder) Rs 12 crore, Sunil Narine (WI allrounder) Rs 6 crore, Varun Chakaravarthy (India spinner) Rs 8 crore, Venkatesh Iyer (India allrounder) Rs 8 crore
IPL 2022 players purchased
Shreyas Iyer (India batter) Rs 12.25 crore
Andre Russell* (WI allrounder) Rs 12 crore
Sunil Narine* (WI allrounder) Rs 6 crore
Varun Chakaravarthy* (India spinner) Rs 8 crore
Venkatesh Iyer* (India allrounder) Rs 8 crore
Pat Cummins (Australia pacer) Rs 7.25 crore
Nitish Rana (India allrounder) Rs 12.25 crore
Shivam Mavi (India pacer) Rs 7.25 crore
Sheldon Jackson (India batter-wk) Rs 60 lakh
Anukul Roy (India allrounder) Rs 20 lakh
Abhijeet Tomar (India batter) Rs 40 lakh
Pratham Singh (India batter) Rs 20 lakh
Rasikh Salam (India pacer) Rs 20 lakh
Aman Khan (India allrounder) Rs 20 lakh
Ramesh Kumar (India batter) Rs 20 lakh
Ashok Sharma (India pacer) Rs 55 lakh
Tim Southee (NZ pacer) Rs 1.50 crore
Alex Hales (England allrounder) Rs 1.50 crore
Mohammed Nabi (Afghanistan allrounder) Rs 1 crore
Ajinkya Rahane (India batter) Rs 1 crore
Sam Billings (England batter-wk) Rs 2 crore
Umesh Yadav (India pacer) Rs 2 crore
Baba Indrajith (India batter-wk) Rs 20 lakh
Chamika Karunaratne (SL allrounder) Rs 50 lakh
Rinku Singh (India batter) Rs 55 lakh
Full squad: Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Varun Chakravarthy, Nitish Rana, Pat Cummins, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Mavi, Sheldon Jackson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Dar, Baba Indrajith, Chamika Karunaratne, Abhijeet Tomar, Pratham Singh, Ashok Sharma, Sam Billings, Alex Hales, Tim Southee, Ramesh Kumar, Mohammad Nabi, Umesh Yadav, Aman Khan
