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


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

kolkata knight riders ipl 2020

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.

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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.

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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

YearCaptainResultTop BatsmanRunsTop BowlerWicketsWin %
2019Dinesh Karthik5thAndre Russell510Andre Russell1142.85%
2018Dinesh Karthik3rdDinesh Karthik498Kuldeep Yadav1756.30%
2017Gautam Gambhir3rdGautam Gambhir498Chris Woakes1757.14%
2016Gautam Gambhir4thGautam Gambhir501Andre Russell1553.33%
2015Gautam Gambhir5thRobin Uthappa364Andre Russell1453.84%
2014Gautam GambhirWinnersRobin Uthappa660Sunil Narine2168.75%
2013Gautam Gambhir6thGautam Gambhir406Sunil Narine2237.50%
2012Gautam GambhirWinnersGautam Gambhir590Sunil Narine2470.58%
2011Gautam Gambhir4thJacques Kallis424Yusuf Pathan1353.33%
2010Sourav Ganguly6thSourav Ganguly493Ashok Dinda950%
2009Brendon Mccullum8thBrad Hodge365Ishant Sharma1123.07%
2008Sourav Ganguly6thSourav Ganguly349Umar Gul1246.16%

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 & DATEMATCHTime (in IST)Venue
Wednesday, September 23Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians7:30 PMAbu Dhabi
Saturday, September 26Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad7:30 PMAbu Dhabi
Wednesday, September 30Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders 7:30 PMDubai
Saturday, October 3Delhi Capitals vs Kolkata Knight Riders 7:30 PMSharjah
Wednesday, October 7Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings7:30 PMAbu Dhabi
Saturday, October 10Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders3:30 PMAbu Dhabi
Monday, October 12Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders 7:30 PMSharjah
Friday, October 16Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders 7:30 PMAbu Dhabi
Sunday, October 18Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders3:30 PMAbu Dhabi
Wednesday, October 21Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore7:30 PMAbu Dhabi
Saturday, October 24Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Capitals3:30 PMAbu Dhabi
Monday, October 26Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab3:30 PMSharjah
Thursday, October 29Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders7:30 PMDubai
Sunday, November 1Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals3:30 PMDubai

Kolkata Knight Riders: 2020 Auction Buys and Trades

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

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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:

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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