Kolkata Knight Riders were bought by Bollywood king Shah Rukh Khan's company Red Chillies Entertainment in partnership with actress Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta. The franchise was bought for a whopping price of $75.09, which was equal to INR 2.98 billion.
India's former skipper Sourav Ganguly was named as the icon of the team. The name of the team is in reference with American TV series, Knight Rider. The Kolkata Knight Riders were introduced in the inaugural edition of the league.
Kolkata Knight Riders is the two-times champions of the Indian Premier League - with former skipper Gautam Gambhir leading them on both occasions. They won the title in 2012 by defeating Chennai Super Kings whereas they defeated Kings XI Punjab in the final of 2014 season. Gautam Gambhir is the leading run-getter of the series whereas Sunil Narine is the top wicket-taker for the Kolkata franchise.
The official theme of the franchise is Korbo, Lorbo, Jetbo re (Perform, Fight and Win). Meanwhile, Purple and Gold are the official colours of the team. Furthermore, the team had the brand value of $99 million in 2017, which is the second most among the IPL Franchises.
In the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League, former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly was the Icon player of KKR. Ganguly went on to lead KKR from 2008-2010 season.
Home Ground:
Eden Gardens is the home ground of Kolkata Knight Riders. The stadium has a capacity of almost 1,00,000 people.
Sponsors:
Nokia was the official shirt sponsors of the Kolkata Knight Riders till 2014 whereas Reebok was the kit manufactures. Subsequently, Chinese phone company Gionee signed a three-year deal for INR 540 million IN 2015. Meanwhile, US Polo was the kit manufactures of the franchise.
2008 Season:
Kolkata Knight Riders opening batsman Brendon McCullum kickstarted the Indian Premier League on a high when he scored a blistering knock of 158 runs from just 73 balls. Former New Zealand skipper blasted as many as 10 fours and 13 sixes in his mind-blowing innings. Thus, Indian Premier League got off to a rocket start as McCullum's innings will always be remembered for a long time.
However, Kolkata Knight Riders could not keep up the same form after winning the first match. Sourav Ganguly-led side won only six matches out of the 14 and they lost seven matches, with one ending in No Result.
KKR captain Sourav Ganguly scored 349 runs in the season whereas David Hussey scored 319 runs in the 13 matches of the season. Umar Gul scalped 12 wickets in the six matches in the first season of the league.
2009 season:
Kolkata Knight Riders had a horrendous second season of the league. The Knight Riders could only win three matches in the season to finish at the bottom of the points table. Sourav Ganguly led lost 11 matches and had a poor run of form.
In fact, Umar Gul who was the franchise-best bowler in the inaugural season as Pakistan players were banned to participate in the IPL.
Former Australian batsman Brad Hodge scored 365 runs in 12 matches at an average of 40.55 whereas Brendon McCullum scored 285 runs in IPL 2009. Ishant Sharma scalped 11 wickets in 11 matches of the second edition.
2010 season:
Kolkata Knight Riders once again could qualify for the playoff stages as they finished at the sixth place in the points table. Sourav Ganguly led side won seven matches and lost as many to end up at the sixth rank in the points table.
Sourav Ganguly led from the front as the stylish southpaw batsman scored 493 runs at an average of 37.93 in 14 matches. Furthermore, Chris Gayle scored 292 runs in nine matches for the KKR.
Murali Kartik, Ashok Dinda and Shane Bond scalped nine wickets each in the third season in the league.
2011 Season
Gautam Gambhir took over the captaincy reins from Sourav Ganguly in the fourth season of the league. The change in captain brought some change in fortunes for the KKR. They were able to qualify for the final four after finishing at the fourth position. They went on to win eight matches out of the 14 they played.
However, they could not go all the way as they lost in the eliminator. Jacques Kallis was instrumental in getting KKR to the playoff stages as the talisman all-rounder scored 424 runs in the 14 matches of the season.
The KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir also played a key role. The southpaw batsman scored 378 runs in the Twenty20 tournament. Furthermore, Manoj Tiwary amassed 359 runs for the side.
Iqbal Abdulla was the prolific performer for the Kolkata Knight Riders as he took 16 wickets in the season. Yusuf Pathan had an outstanding season for the Knight Riders as he scored 283 runs and took 13 wickets in the edition.
2012 Season:
Kolkata Knight Riders became the champions of the Indian Premier League for the first time in 2012 season. Riders defeated the defending champions Chennai Super Kings by five wickets. Maninder Bisla was the hero of the final as the right-hander scored a fine knock of 89 runs from just 48 balls. Furthermore, Jacques Kallis scored a fine knock of 69 runs from just 49 balls.
Gautam Gambhir-led side won 10 matches in the group stages to finish at the second place in the points table. The team captain Gautam Gambhir was instrumental in taking the side all the way as he scored 590 runs in the season -which were the second highest in the fifth edition of the league. Jacques Kallis also played a big part in the triumph of the KKR as he scored 409 runs in the season.
Sunil Narine had a huge role as the talisman spinner scalped 24 wickets in 15 matches of the season, which were the second highest. The linchpin bowled with an outstanding average of 15.90. Furthermore, he didn't let the batsmen off the hook as he gave away his runs at an economy of 5.47.
2013 season:
Kolkata Knight Riders could not defend their IPL title in the 2013 season. In fact, Gautam Gambhir led-side finished at the seventh place in the points table after winning only six matches out of the 16 in the group stages.
Gautam Gambhir was the lone warrior for the team as the southpaw opener scored 406 runs in 16 matches. Furthermore, Yusuf Pathan scored 332 runs in the season. Sunil Narine continued his good form in the IPL as he scalped 22 wickets in the season.
2014 season:
Kolkata Knight Riders won their second IPL title in 2014. Gautam Gambhir-led side won their second title by defeating Kings XI Punjab by three wickets. Manish Pandey was the hero of the final as he had scored a fine knock 94 runs from only 50 balls. Yusuf Pathan had also scored a quickfire 36 off just 22 balls.
Knight Riders finished at the second position in the points table after winning nine matches out of 14 in the group stages. Thus, they came up with consistent performances.
Robin Uthappa was the most prolific run-scorer for the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2014 season. The talisman right-hander amassed 660 runs and he was the leading run-getter of the series. Furthermore, the final hero Manish Pandey scored 401 runs in the season.
Sunil Narine was once again the leading wicket-taker for KKR. The Windies talisman took 21 wickets to finish as the second highest wicket-taker in the series. Moreover, Piyush Chawla scalped 14 wickets in the season.
Also Read: Indian Premier League 2022 News and Get latest all update here
2015 season:
Kolkata Knight Riders could not defend their title in 2015. In fact, Gautam Gambhir-led side could not qualify for the playoff stages as they won only seven matches out of the 14 matches.
Robin Uthappa scored 364 runs whereas Gautam Gambhir scored 327 runs in the season. Furthermore, Yusuf Pathan amassed 312 runs. Andre Russel scalped 14 wickets in the edition and also scored 326 runs.
2016 season:
KKR was able to qualify for the last four of the Indian Premier League in the 2016 season. However, their journey was ended when they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the eliminator by 22 runs.
They won eight matches out of the out of the fourteen as they finished at the fourth place in the points table. Gautam Gambhir had led from the front as he scored 501 runs in 15 matches. Furthermore, Yusuf Pathan and Robin Uthappa were once again amongst the run-scorers. Andre Russell scalped 15 wickets in the season.
2017 season:
Kolkata Knight Riders once again finished at the fourth place in the points table to qualify for tbe knockout stages. They won the Eliminator contest against Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, they lost in the second qualifier against Mumbai Indians by six wickets.
Gautam Gambhir was the second highest run-getter of the tournament as he scored 498 runs. Manish Pandey amassed 396 runs in the competition whereas Robin Uthappa scored 388 runs.
Umesh Yadav and Chris Woakes scalped 17 wickets each in the season.
2018 season:
Kolkata Knight Riders decided to release Gautam Gambhir ahead of the IPL 2018 season. Subsequently, KKR gave the captaincy baton to Dinesh Karthik.
Knight Riders did well under a rookie captain as they ended up at the third position in the points table. They won eight matches in the league stages. They won the Eliminator against Rajasthan Royals but could win against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second qualifier.
KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik scored 498 runs in the season whereas Chris Lynn scored 491 runs. Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav scalped 17 wickets in the season.
2019 Season:
Here is Kolkata Knight Riders squad:
Retained: Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shubman Gill, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti,
Bought: Carlos Brathwaite (Rs 5 crore), Lockie Ferguson (Rs 1.60 crore), Anrich Nortje (Rs 20 lakh), Nikhil Naik (Rs 20 lakh), Harry Gurney (Rs 75 lakh), Yarra Prithviraj (Rs 20 lakh), Joe Denly (Rs 1 crore), Shrikant Mundhe (Rs 20 lakh)