The 2021 season was the 14th season for the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). They were one of the eight teams that competed in the 2021 IPL. The franchise won the tournament in 2012 and 2014. The team was captained by Eoin Morgan with Brendon McCullum as the team coach. They finished their 2021 IPL campaign as runners-up.
Background Player retention and transfers
The franchise retained 17 players and released six players.
Retained Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy, Tim Seifert
Released Chris Green, Harry Gurney, M Siddharth, Nikhil Naik, Siddhesh Lad, Tom Banton
Added Harbhajan Singh, Shakib Al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Vaibhav Arora, Venkatesh Iyer, Karun Nair, Ben Cutting
Squad Players with international caps are listed in bold. No. Name Nationality Birth date Batting style Bowling style Year signed Salary NotesBatsmen16 Eoin Morgan Left-handed Right-arm medium 2020 Overseas; Captain18 Gurkeerat Singh Right-handed Right-arm off break 2021 Replacement for Rinku Singh27 Nitish Rana Left-handed Right-arm off break 2018 35 Rinku Singh Left-handed Right-arm off break 2018 Unavailable due to knee injury52 Rahul Tripathi Right-handed Right-arm fast medium 2020 66 Karun Nair Right-handed Right-arm off break 2021 77 Shubman Gill Right-handed Right-arm off break 2018 All-Rounder12 Andre Russell Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2018 Overseas, Injured15 Pawan Negi Left-handed Left-arm orthodox 2021 25 Venkatesh Iyer Left-handed Right-arm medium 2021 31 Ben Cutting Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2021 Overseas75 Shakib Al Hasan Left-handed Left-arm orthodox 2021 Overseas Wicket-Keepers19 Dinesh Karthik Right-handed Right-arm off break 2018 Vice-captain21 Sheldon Jackson Right-handed Right-arm off break 2021 43 Tim Seifert Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2020 Overseas Spin-Bowlers3 Harbhajan Singh Right-handed Right-arm off break 2021 23 Kuldeep Yadav Left-handed Left-arm unorthodox 2018 29 Varun Chakravarthy Right-handed Right-arm leg break 2020 74 Sunil Narine Left-handed Right-arm off break 2018 Overseas Pace Bowlers5 Kamlesh Nagarkoti Right-handed Right-arm fast 2018 14 Vaibhav Arora Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2021 24 Prasidh Krishna Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2018 26 Shivam Mavi Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2018 30 Pat Cummins Right-handed Right-arm fast 2020 Overseas, Unavailable due to Personal reasons43 Tim Southee Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2021 Overseas, Replacement for Pat Cummins63 Sandeep Warrier Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast 2019 69 Lockie Ferguson Right-handed Right-arm fast 2019 Overseas Source: KKR Players
Administration and support staff Position Name Owner Shah Rukh Khan (Red Chillies Entertainment), Jay Mehta (Mehta Group)CEO and Managing Director Venky MysoreTeam manager Wayne Bentley Head coach Brendon McCullumAssistant coach Abhishek NayarMentor David HusseyBowling coach Kyle MillsFielding coach James FosterHead Physiotherapist Kamlesh JainStrength and Conditioning coach Chris Donaldson Source: KKR Staff
Kit manufacturers and sponsors
Kit manufacturerShirt sponsor (chest)Shirt sponsor (back)Chest BrandingWrogn ActiveMPLUnacademyLux CoziSource :kkr.in
Teams and standings Results by match
League table
League stage
The full schedule was published on the IPL website on 7 March 2021.
Matches
Playoffs
Eliminator
Qualifier 2
Final
Statistics
Most runs No. Name Match Inns NO Runs HS Ave. BF SR 100s 50s 0s 4s 6s 1 Shubman Gill 17 17 0 478 94 45.11 402 118.90 0 2 0 39 11 2 Rahul Tripathi 17 16 2 397 74* 28.35 283 140.28 0 2 0 41 11 3 Nitish Rana 17 16 3 383 80 29.46 314 121.97 0 2 2 34 17 4 Venkatesh Iyer 10 10 1 370 67 41.11 288 128.47 0 4 0 37 14 5 Dinesh Karthik 17 15 5 223 40 22.30 170 131.17 0 0 1 22 7 6 Andre Russell 10 9 2 183 54 26.14 120 152.50 0 1 0 14 14 7 Eoin Morgan 17 16 4 133 47* 11.08 139 95.68 0 0 4 8 6 8 Pat Cummins 7 5 2 93 66* 31.00 56 166.07 0 1 1 5 8 9 Sunil Narine 14 10 2 62 26 7.75 47 113.91 0 0 3 3 5 10 Shakib Al Hasan 8 6 1 47 26 9.40 48 97.91 0 0 2 3 1 11Shivam Mavi920252012.5020125.0000022 Source: ESPNcricinfo
Most wickets No. Name Match Inns Overs Maidens Runs Wickets BBI Avg. Econ. SR 4W 5W 1 Varun Chakravarthy 17 17 68.0 0 448 18 3/13 24.88 6.58 22.66 0 0 2 Sunil Narine 14 14 56.0 0 361 16 4/21 22.56 6.44 21.0 1 0 3 Lockie Ferguson 8 8 30.0 0 224 13 3/18 17.23 7.46 13.84 0 0 4 Prasidh Krishna 10 10 38.3 0 351 12 3/30 29.25 9.11 19.25 0 0 5 Shivam Mavi 9 9 32.1 0 233 11 4/21 21.18 7.24 17.54 1 0 6 Andre Russell 10 8 19.0 0 188 11 5/15 17.09 9.89 10.36 0 1 7 Pat Cummins 7 7 26.5 0 237 9 3/24 26.33 8.83 17.88 0 0 8 Shakib Al Hasan 8 8 26.0 0 187 4 1/1 46.75 7.19 39.0 0 0 9 Venkatesh Iyer 10 4 8.3 0 69 3 2/29 20.00 8.11 17.00 0 0 10 Tim Southee 3 3 12.0 0 95 3 2/26 31.66 7.91 24.00 0 0 Source: ESPNcricinfo
Player of the match awards No. Date Player Opponent Result Contribution Ref. 1 Nitish Rana Sunrisers Hyderabad Won by 10 runs 80 (56) 2 Eoin Morgan Punjab Kings Won by 5 Wickets 47* (40) 3 Varun Chakravarthy Royal Challengers Bangalore Won by 9 Wickets 3/13 (4) 4 Sunil Narine Mumbai Indians Won by 7 Wickets 1/20 (4) 5 Sunil Narine Delhi Capitals Won by 3 Wickets 2/18 (4) and 21 (10) 6 Shubman Gill Sunrisers Hyderabad Won by 6 Wickets 57 (51) 7 Shivam Mavi Rajasthan Royals Won by 86 runs 4/21 (4 overs) 8 : Eliminator Sunil Narine Royal Challengers Bangalore Won by 4 wickets 4/21 (4 overs) and 26 (15) 9 : Qualifier 2 Venkatesh Iyer Delhi Capitals Won by 3 wickets 55 (41)
References