The 2020 season was the 13th season for the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). They were one of the eight teams that competed in the 2020 Indian Premier League. The franchise previously qualified for the IPL playoffs in 2011 and won the tournament in 2012 and 2014. The team was captained by Eoin Morgan with Brendon McCullum as the new team coach. The team finished 5th and could not qualify for the playoffs.
Background Player retention and transfers
The Kolkata Knight Riders retained 13 players and released ten players. On 12 September, Ali Khan becomes first USA cricketer to join IPL as replacement for Harry Gurney.
Retained Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Harry Gurney, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi. Released Chris Lynn, Carlos Brathwaite, Nikhil Naik, KC Cariappa, Joe Denly, Shrikant Mundhe, Yarra Prithviraj, Anrich Nortje. Acquired via trade Siddhesh Lad.
Auction
KKR went into the auction with a budget of 35.65 crores INR. They bought Australian bowler Pat Cummins for 15.50 Cr, which was the highest amount ever for an overseas player at the auction. They also bought England captain Eoin Morgan (for 5.25 Cr), Rahul Tripathi, Tom Banton and Chris Green, and 48-year-old leg-spinner Praveen Tambe, who was bought at his base price of INR 20 lakhs.
Acquired at the auction Pat Cummins, Eoin Morgan, Tom Banton, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy, Manimaran Siddharth, Nikhil Naik, Chris Green, Pravin Tambe.
Offseason Brendon McCullum expressed happiness after being appointed KKR's coach, saying it was an honour for him.
On 13 March 2020, the BCCI postponed the tournament until 15 April, in view of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. After Narendra Modi said that the lockdown in India would last until at least 3 May 2020, the BCCI suspended the tournament indefinitely.
On 24 May, Indian sports minister Kiren Rijiju stated that the decision on whether or not to allow the tournament to be conducted in 2020 would be made by the Indian government based on "the situation of the pandemic". In June 2020, the BCCI confirmed that their preference was to host the tournament in India, possibly between September and October. On 24 July 2020, it was confirmed that the tournament would start from 19 September 2020.
Australian player Chris Green was banned from bowling in January 2020 for three months, due to an illegal action. He had been bought by Kolkata Knight Riders at a base price of INR 20 lakhs. Whether or not he would participate in the IPL season would depend on the League's Governing Council approval. A senior BCCI official confirmed that leg-spinner Pravin Tambe would not play in the IPL 2020 since he had played in T10 league.
Team analysis ESPNcricinfo wrote "Like most teams in the Indian Premier League, Kolkata Knight Riders also have a great playing XI, which has six bowling options and many impact players. The team has done an excellent job by buying Morgan, Banton and Green. However, Pat Cummins sold for a record amount will also be under pressure to perform well for him. Apart from this, the team has tremendous all-rounders in the form of Narine and Russell. The bowling attack of the team will decide how it performs in 2020."
Gautam Gambhir said on the Star Sports Cricket Live show:
Season summary On 23 September, Kolkata Knight Riders lost the opening match against Mumbai Indians. Dinesh Karthik won the toss and elected to field. Rohit Sharma 80 off 54 balls and Suryakumar Yadav 47 off 28 balls, contributed to a score of 195. Chasing a target of 196, the team had lost two wickets in a five overs. Shivam Mavi 9 off 10 balls was stumped on the final ball of the match and Knight Riders could only score 146/9 in 20 overs, losing the match by 49 runs.
Kolkata Knight Riders won their next match against Sunrisers Hyderabad by 7 wickets. Dinesh Karthik lost the toss and was put to field. Manish Pandey scored 51 off 28 balls, helped the Sunrisers finish the innings at 142/4 in 20 overs. Chasing a target of 143, the Knight had lost two wickets in a first five overs, but Shubman Gill 70 off 62 balls brilliant inning and their 92-run partnership with Eoin Morgan, helped the Knight Riders to beat the Sunrisers.
On 21 October 2020, Kolkata Knight Riders owned an ignominious record of becoming the team that finished with the lowest total in their allotted 20 overs without getting bowled out in the Indian Premier League against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
After 7 matches in the season, KKR had a change of captain. Dinesh Karthik allegedly stepped down voluntarily as he wanted "to focus on his batting and contributing more to the team’s cause". Eoin Morgan was henceforth appointed as the captain.
The team could win only 3 games in the second half of the league stage and ended up with 14 points. They had 7 wins and 7 losses from their 14 games. Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad also ended with 14 points. However, a lower net run rate resulted in KKR being knocked out of the tournament before the playoffs.
Squad Players with international caps are listed in bold. No. Name Nationality Birth date Batting style Bowling style Year signed Salary Notes Batsmen27 Nitish Rana Left-handed Right-arm off break 2018 77 Shubman Gill Right-handed Right-arm off break 2018 35 Rinku Singh Left-handed Right-arm off break 2018 Siddhesh Lad Right-handed Right-arm off-break 2020 16 Eoin Morgan Left-handed Right-arm medium 2020 Overseas52 Rahul Tripathi Right-handed Right-arm fast medium 2020 All-rounders12 Andre Russell Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2018 Overseas74 Sunil Narine Left-handed Right-arm off break 2018 Overseas93 Chris Green Right-handed Right-arm off-break 2020 Overseas Wicket-keepers19 Dinesh Karthik Right-handed Right-arm off break 2018 Captain until match 8 Tim Seifert Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2020 Overseas18 Tom Banton Right-handed Right-arm off break 2020 Overseas7 Nikhil Naik Right-handed Right-arm off break 2020 Spin Bowlers23 Kuldeep Yadav Left-handed Slow left-arm wrist-spin 2018 29 Varun Chakravarthy Right-handed Right-arm leg break 2020 Manimaran Siddharth Right-handed Left-arm orthodox 2020 Pace Bowlers5 Kamlesh Nagarkoti Right-handed Right-arm fast 2018 26 Shivam Mavi Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2018 24 Prasidh Krishna Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2018 69 Lockie Ferguson Right-handed Right-arm fast 2019 Overseas 11 Harry Gurney Right-handed Left-arm fast-medium 2019 Overseas63 Sandeep Warrier Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast 2019 30 Pat Cummins Right-handed Right-arm fast 2020 Overseas47 Ali Khan Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2020 Overseas
Administration and support staff Position Name Owner Shah Rukh Khan (Red Chillies Entertainment), Jay Mehta, Juhi Chawla (Mehta Group)CEO and Managing Director Venky MysoreTeam manager Wayne Bentley Head coach Brendon McCullumAssistant coach Abhishek NayarBowling coach Kyle MillsMentor David HusseyFielding coach James FosterStrength and Conditioning coach Chris DonaldsonHead Physiotherapist Kamlesh Jain Source: KKR Players
Kit manufacturers and sponsors
Kits
Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor (chest) Shirt sponsor (back) Chest BrandingLux CoziMPLJioLux Cozi Source : www.kkr.in
Sponsors Principal Sponsor: MPL
Teams and standings Results by match
League table
League stage
Statistics
Most runs No. Name Match Inns NO Runs HS Ave. BF SR 100s 50s 4s 6s1 Shubman Gill 14 14 1 440 70* 33.84 373 117.96 0 3 44 92 Eoin Morgan 14 14 4 418 68* 41.80 302 138.41 0 1 32 243 Nitish Rana 14 14 0 352 87 25.14 254 138.58 0 3 43 124 Rahul Tripathi 11 11 1 230 81 23.00 181 127.07 0 1 21 105 Dinesh Karthik 14 14 2 169 58 14.08 134 126.11 0 1 20 46 Pat Cummins 14 11 4 146 53* 20.85 114 128.07 0 1 9 87 Sunil Narine 10 9 0 121 64 13.44 85 142.35 0 0 10 88 Andre Russell 10 9 0 117 25 13.00 81 144.44 0 0 9 9 Source:iplt20
Most wickets No. Name Match Inns Overs Runs Wickets BBI Avg. Econ. SR 4W 5W1 Varun Chakravarthy 13 13 52 356 17 20/5 20.94 6.84 18.35 0 12 Pat Cummins 14 14 52 409 12 34/4 34.08 7.86 26.00 1 03 Shivam Mavi 8 8 26 212 9 15/2 23.55 8.15 17.33 0 0 4 Lockie Ferguson 5 5 19.5 148 6 15/3 24.66 7.46 19.83 0 05 Andre Russell 10 7 18 175 6 29/2 29.16 9.72 18.00 0 06 Sunil Narine 10 10 38 302 5 28/2 60.40 7.94 45.60 0 07 Kamlesh Nagarkoti 9 9 26 231 5 13/2 46.20 8.88 31.20 0 08 Prasidh Krishna 6 6 17.3 164 4 29/3 41.00 9.37 26.25 0 0 Source:iplt20
Player of the match awards No. Date Player Opponent Result Contribution Ref. 1 Shubman Gill Sunrisers Hyderabad Won By 7 wickets 70* (62) 2 Shivam Mavi Rajasthan Royals Won By 37 runs 2/22 (4 overs) 37 October 2020Rahul TripathiChennai Super KingsWon by 10 runs81 (51)410 October 2020Dinesh KarthikKings XI PunjabWon by 2 runs58 (29)518 October 2020Lockie FergusonSunrisers HyderabadWon in super over3/15 (4 overs)624 October 2020Varun ChakravarthyDelhi CapitalsWon by 59 runs5/20 (4 overs)71 November 2020Pat CumminsRajasthan RoyalsWon by 60 runs4/34 (4 overs)
References