The Kolkata Knight Riders are one of the highly revered cricket teams in the Indian Premier League. The cricket franchise was established in 2008, and it is one of the staple teams that always reached the finals, but it finally won a championship title in 2012. The team is still viewed as a strong contender in the upcoming IPL 2024.
Today, we will be discussing the essential facts about the Kolkata Knight Riders and the key aspects of what makes them one of the best players in the Indian cricket tournament.
History
The Indian Premier League was built in 2008, and formed by eight pioneering cricket teams, and one of them was the Kolkata Knight Riders. The franchise was owned by Bollywood actress Juhi Chawla, actor Shah Rukh Khan, and Chawla’s husband, Jay Mehta. During their debut campaign at the IPL 2024, the Kolkata Knight Riders (also known as KKR) find it hard for them to make a breakthrough. Throughout the season, the team struggled to make it past the qualification, only landing at the bottom tier of the standing table. Despite having an unsuccessful first season in the Indian Premier League, the Kolkata Knight Riders found their groove in the second season of the tournament. They made it to the qualification; however, they were let go in the finals.
The year 2012 was one of the important times for the Kolkata Knight Riders when they claimed their first-ever championship title in the Indian Premier League. They gracefully beat the Chennai Super Kings during the final round of the 2012 season. Following their sudden victory, their luck continued when they won another title in the 2014 IPL. During that time, the Kolkata Knight Riders established their reputation as one of the top performers in the Indian Premier League. After their back-to-back victories, the KKR had a drought in winning a championship title until the present day. However, they are still a staple squad in the playoffs, making them one of the formidable opponents in the IPL 2024 competition.
Identity and Sponsors
When the Kolkata Knight Riders were first introduced, the official icon of the franchise consisted of a fiery Viking helmet against a black-colored background. Along with the icon, a text with the official name of the team is written in gold against the same dark background. After that, the team changed the black background to a shade of purple in the third season. During the 2012 season, the year when they won their first IPL 2024 title, they changed their logo into a fiery purple Greek helmet with gold accents, with the Kolkata knight Rider text inside a shield. Since then, they have been using this logo until the present.
During their appearances in the first four seasons of the IPL, the team had been using their tagline “All the King’s Men”. However, during the fifth edition, they transformed it into "Mew Dawn, New Knights”. The team used the official color palette of black and gold during the first two editions. During an interview, Khan stated that the gold color represents life and the black represents the goddess Kali. They changed the combination into purple and gold, and fashion designer Manish Malhotra made sure that this new color scheme would be reflected in the team’s new jersey. The team’s official soundtrack is the “Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo Re" which translates to “We will act, fight, and win!” The soundtrack album was produced by Vishal and Shekhar, and it features various Bollywood singers.
Notable Players
The Kolkata Knight Riders are one of the squads in the history of the Indian Premier League who have won a championship title. It is no surprise that several notable players made these feats possible.
Shubman Gill
One of the players who has enormous potential is Shubman Gill, and he is one of the important names in the Indian Premier League when it comes to the batters. During the 2020 season of the IPL, he made a breakthrough in which he produced impressive runs of 440 at an average batting rate of 33.85. In the upcoming season of the IPL 2024, he is set to be the lucky charm of the Kolkata Knight Riders again.
Sunil Narine
Narine is one of the important wickettakers for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. In all of his appearances in the Indian cricket tournament, the batsman has rendered 152 wickets from 147 winnings at a rate of 25.13. He is one of the staple athletes in the Kolkata Knight Riders, having been a member of the squad since his debut in 2012. He is best known for his skill set that is related to wicket-taking.
Gautam Gambhir
The Kolkata Knight Rider has an all-time run-getter in the form of Gautam Gambhir. Throughout his career at the KKR, he has produced a total of 3035 runs from 78 innings at a rate of 31.38.
Rivals
Ever since the Kolkata Knight Riders were introduced in 2008, they have made a lot of rivals in every season of the Indian Premier League. However, nothing is stronger than the two squads we will mention next. The KKR had a neck-on-neck competition with at least one of these two in every IPL edition.
Punjab Kings
Out of all the teams in the Indian Premier League, the Punjab Kings are being considered to be the archenemy of the Kolkata Knight Riders. They have always been head-to-head in terms of scores but the KKR had been the most successful among the two. The latter have a 66.66 percent winning percentage over the former, with a total record of 20 out of all the 30 games they played against them.
Mumbai Indians
Next to the Punjab Kings, the Mumbai Kings are also a consistent enemy of the KKR in the Indian Premier League. The KKR have lost to the Mumbai Indians 22 times out of all the 31 matches they played.
Conclusion
The Kolkata Knight Riders are one of the unbeatable teams in the Indian Premier League. They have claimed the championship title from the competition twice. Despite lacking any title lately, the KKR continues to be a strong contender in the IPL 2024.
No comments yet