IPL 2024 Factbox: Everything you need to know about Kolkata Knight Riders

IPL titles: 2

There are quite a few teams out there in the Indian Premier League (IPL) that are yet to win the Indian Premier League (IPL) even once. On that front, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) happen to be quite well off with two titles to their name, both coming under the leadership of the same individual and within a span of three years (2012 and 2014), making them the most successful team in the world’s biggest T20 league after Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings — who have five titles each.

KKR have a unique place in IPL history, in that they squared off against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the first match of the inaugural edition in 2008, which they ended up winning by a whopping 140 runs thanks to former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum’s fiery 158 not out . Since then, they’ve gone on to reach the playoffs on seven different occasions in 16 editions and progressing as far as the final thrice — losing the 2021 final to Chennai Super Kings besides winning 2012 and 2014.

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In the most recent season, IPL 2023, they finished seventh with six wins and eight defeats and failed to reach the playoffs.

Here’s how they have fared year on year

How did they fare in the previous season: KKR, who were missing the services of skipper Shreyas Iyer due to injury and were led by Nitish Rana, began their campaign with a defeat against Punjab Kings in their opening fixture. They would bounce back from the loss with back-to-back wins against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Titans respectively, the second one famously remembered for Rinku Singh’s flurry of sixes off Yash Dayal’s bowling in the final over of the run chase.

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Their campaign, however, would soon derail as they suffered five defeats in their next six outings to get relegated to the lower half of the table and would be unable to get close to the playoffs zone despite showing signs of a fight towards the business end of the league stage.

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Win percentage: 50.21

KKR have won 119 of their 237 matches in IPL history for a win percentage of 50.21. Four of their matches have finished in ties and then decided in Super Overs: winning one and losing three. Among the teams that have featured in a minimum of 50 matches, they have the third highest win percentage (behind CSK and MI).

Highest run-getter: Gautam Gambhir (3,035)

Highest wicket-taker: Sunil Narine (163)

Highest individual score: Brendon McCullum 158 not out vs RCB at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Highest team score: 245/6 vs KXIP in Indore

Favourite opponent: Punjab Kings

KKR have had the most success against Punjab Kings among existing teams, having beaten them 21 time in 32 meetings with a win percentage of 65.62. They had a better win percentage against the now-defunct Deccan Chargers, having won seven out of nine encounters against the team that had last featured in the 2012 edition with a win percentage of 77.77.

Bogey opponent: Mumbai Indians

If there’s one team they truly struggle against, it’s the Mumbai Indians, having lost 23 times in 32 meetings with the five-time champions with a loss percentage of 71.87.

Lesser known facts:

— KKR hold the record for most consecutive wins in a season and overall. They won 9 matches on the 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 61 wickets from 52 matches at a SR of 19.05 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata in IPL — the most by any KKR player at a single venue.

Retentions, purchases and squad

Players retained before IPL 2024 auction: Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer (c), Jason Roy, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy

IPL 2024 players purchased: KS Bharat (Rs 50 lakh), Chetan Sakariya (Rs 50 lakh), Mitchell Starc (Rs 24.75 crore), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (Rs 20 lakh), Ramandeep Singh (Rs 20 lakh), Sherfane Rutherford (Rs 1.5 crore), Manish Pandey (Rs 50 lakh), Mujeeb Rahman (Rs 2 crore), Gus Atkinson (Rs 1 crore) (ruled out).

Full squad: Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer, Jason Roy, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, KS Bharat, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Mujeeb Rahman, Dushmantha Chameera.