IPL 2020 UAE: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Team Profile Overview, Stats, Auctions Analysis, Season-Wise Performance, Full Schedule and Squad

Kolkata Knight Riders are counted amongst the strongest sides in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise has won the title on two occasions in IPL history. While KKR has been one of the most consistent sides over the years, they endured a poor run in 2019. Kolkata Knight Riders won just 6 games out of 14 and thus couldn’t make it to the playoffs.

The good thing, though, is that they realised their shortcomings and worked on them at the auctions.

KKR bought some outstanding overseas players this year with the likes of Eoin Morgan, Tom Banton and Pat Cummins. Ahead of IPL 2020, Kolkata Knight Riders look one of the strongest sides on paper. Without a doubt, Kolkata Knight Riders will be one of the teams to watch out for in the upcoming edition.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Team Overview

Let’s take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the franchise.

Strengths:

Kolkata Kinght Riders has, arguably, the best batting line up among all franchises this year. The side boasts of some destructive finishers such as Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik. They have two solid young openers in the form of Tom Banton and Shubhman Gill.

Furthermore, Sunil Narine has been in a great run of form of late. The West Indies all-rounder has been making headlines with his performance in the ongoing edition of CPL.

Weaknesses:

The conditions in UAE are likely to favour spinners and slower-bowlers. Keeping that in mind, KKR are perhaps, at least one world class spinner short in their squad. Kuldeep Yadav had a modest season last year and Sunil Narine too doesn’t have the same impact as much as he had earlier. For KKR to excel in the tournament, the franchise would rely heavily on both the spinners to come good this year.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Season Wise Performance

Year	Captain	Result	Top Batsman	Runs	Top Bowler	Wickets	Win %
2019	Dinesh Karthik	5th	Andre Russell	510	Andre Russell	11	42.85%
2018	Dinesh Karthik	3rd	Dinesh Karthik	498	Kuldeep Yadav	17	56.30%
2017	Gautam Gambhir	3rd	Gautam Gambhir	498	Chris Woakes	17	57.14%
2016	Gautam Gambhir	4th	Gautam Gambhir	501	Andre Russell	15	53.33%
2015	Gautam Gambhir	5th	Robin Uthappa	364	Andre Russell	14	53.84%
2014	Gautam Gambhir	Winners	Robin Uthappa	660	Sunil Narine	21	68.75%
2013	Gautam Gambhir	6th	Gautam Gambhir	406	Sunil Narine	22	37.50%
2012	Gautam Gambhir	Winners	Gautam Gambhir	590	Sunil Narine	24	70.58%
2011	Gautam Gambhir	4th	Jacques Kallis	424	Yusuf Pathan	13	53.33%
2010	Sourav Ganguly	6th	Sourav Ganguly	493	Ashok Dinda	9	50%
2009	Brendon Mccullum	8th	Brad Hodge	365	Ishant Sharma	11	23.07%
2008	Sourav Ganguly	6th	Sourav Ganguly	349	Umar Gul	12	46.16%

Kolkata Knight Riders: Team Stats

Batting:

• Most Runs: Gautam Gambhir (3,035)
• Most 100s: B McCullum (1)
• Most 50s: Gautam Gambhir (30)
• Best Batting Average: Dinesh Karthik (41.72)
• Best Strike rate: Andre Russell (180.08)
• Most 6’s: Yusuf Pathan (85)
• Highest individual score: B McCullum (158)

Bowling:

• Most wickets: Sunil Narine (113)
• Best bowling figure: Sunil Narine (5 for 19 against KXIP in 2012)
• Most 5-wicket hauls: Sunil Narine (1)
• Most 4-wicket Hauls: Sunil Narine (6)

Here is the List of Kolkata Knight Riders IPL 2020 fixtures, venues and match timings

DAY & DATE	MATCH	Time (in IST)	Venue
Wednesday, September 23	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians	7:30 PM	Abu Dhabi
Saturday, September 26	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad	7:30 PM	Abu Dhabi
Wednesday, September 30	Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders	7:30 PM	Dubai
Saturday, October 3	Delhi Capitals vs Kolkata Knight Riders	7:30 PM	Sharjah
Wednesday, October 7	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings	7:30 PM	Abu Dhabi
Saturday, October 10	Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders	3:30 PM	Abu Dhabi
Monday, October 12	Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders	7:30 PM	Sharjah
Friday, October 16	Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders	7:30 PM	Abu Dhabi
Sunday, October 18	Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders	3:30 PM	Abu Dhabi
Wednesday, October 21	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore	7:30 PM	Abu Dhabi
Saturday, October 24	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Capitals	3:30 PM	Abu Dhabi
Monday, October 26	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab	3:30 PM	Sharjah
Thursday, October 29	Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders	7:30 PM	Dubai
Sunday, November 1	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals	3:30 PM	Dubai

Kolkata Knight Riders: 2020 Auction Buys and Trades

2019 saw KKR enduring a poor run. They failed to reach the knockouts and finished at 6^th place in the points table. As a result, they released some high-profile players like Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn and Piyush Chawla.

Complete list of all the released players:

Chris Lynn, Carlos Brathwaite, Robin Uthappa, Piyush Chawla, Nikhil Naik, KC Cariappa, Joe Denly, Srikant Munde, Yarra Prithviraj, Anrich Nortje.

Interestingly, they bought some outstanding overseas players in their squad such as Eoin Morgan, Tom Banton and Pat Cummins to name a few.

Complete list of players bought by KKR in 2020 Auctions:

Eoin Morgan, Pat Cummins, Varun Chakravarthy, R Tripathi, M Siddharth, Chris Green, Tom Banton, Praveen Tambe.

Kolkata Knight Riders Squad for IPL 2020

Dinesh Karthik (c), Andre Russell, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Siddhesh Lad, Sunil Narine, Chris Green, Eoin Morgan, M Siddharth, Nikhil Naik, Praveen Tambe, Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi, Tom Banton, Varun Chakravarthy.

Also Read: IPL 2020 UAE: Rajasthan Royals (RR) Team Profile Overview, Stats, Auctions Analysis, Season-Wise Performance, Full Schedule and Squad