Kolkata Knight Riders: Know All About KKR Owners, Captains, Coaches, Records and More

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is the third most successful team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history. They have won the trophy three times and are the defending champions of the toughest T20 league in the world. The franchise was founded back in 2008. It is owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, actress Juhi Chawla, and her husband Jay Mehta. They struggled in the initial phase of the tournament. 

But in 2012 they lifted their maiden IPL title under their then captain Gautam Gambhir. He also led the side in 2014. The former India opener is the only captain and mentor to win the trophy twice as captain and once as mentor for the same franchise. The franchise was bought for about Rs 262.5 crore (approx. US$75.09 million) in 2008 and has been one of the tournament’s most popular teams.

	Team Information
Full Name	Kolkata Knight Riders
Nick Name	KKR, Knights
Founded Year	2008
Current Owners	Red Chillies Entertainment and Mehta Group
Coach	Chandrakant Pandit
Captain	Not Yet Announced
Wining Records	52.19%
Home Ground	Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Secondary Home Ground	No Secondary Home Ground

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)- Jersey & Logo

The team’s official colours were black and gold for the first two seasons. At the time, Khan stated that “golden symbolises the spirit of life and black represents the Goddess Kali.” It was later changed into purple and gold for the third season and remained so. The jersey was then designed by Bollywood fashion designer Manish Malhotra. The colours are prominently displayed on both their jersey and logo, showcasing the team’s colourful passion and the rich heritage of the city.

The KKR logo is a portrayal of a Corinthian helmet, displaying strength and resilience. It is set over a shield backdrop. The team name has been given a modern and bold appearance. This represents the team’s fighting spirit and commitment to excellence. There have been no changes to the jersey or logo for the 2025 season as of now.

KKR- IPL 2025 Captain, Vice-Captain, Details

The Knights have not picked any out-and-out captains from the mega auction. They have the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, and Rinku Singh as the options for the new captain as they let go of their title-winning captain Shreyas Iyer in the auction. The management is yet to announce the new captain’s name for the forthcoming season. As per speculations, it can be either Rahane or Venky Iyer who could lead the side for the upcoming IPL season. The defending champions will be facing their arch-rivals Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the 2025 IPL opener.

History

Kolkata Knight Riders was established in 2008. The team representing Kolkata was taken by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s company Red Chillies Entertainment in association with Mehta Group which is owned by actress Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta for $75.09 million (around 2.98 billion INR at the time). Sourav Ganguly, a former Indian national team captain, and West Bengal native, was appointed the squad’s marquee player. The team’s name was kept after the popular 1980s American television series Knight Rider.

During the first four seasons, the team’s tagline was “All the King’s Men”. However, in the fifth, it was replaced with “New Dawn, New Knights”. The side failed to qualify for the playoffs in the first two seasons of the competition. Then in 2011, the Knights had a new dawn, KKR drastically reshaped their squad. With new faces in the squad. Gambhir was then the highest-ever pick for the franchise and he was announced as the captain. However, that season also they qualified in the playoffs.

In the following season, they finished second in the league table by winning 12 games out of 18. They defeated the Chennai Super Kings at their home stadium, to bring in their maiden IPL trophy. In 2013 they could not compete in the playoffs and finished at the bottom half of the table. In the next season after a rough patch, they won 9 games in a row till the final to win their second championship. And after 10 years of rough patch, they sealed their third trophy in the previous season with Gambhir coming back as mentor.

Administration and Support Staff

Team Owner	Red Chillies Entertainment and Mehta Group
Team Director	Venky Mysore
Team And Cricket Operations Management	Wayne Bentley
Head Coach	Chandrakant Pandit
Mentor	Dwayne Bravo
Batting Coach	No Batting Coach Yet
Bowling Coach	Bharat Arun
Fielding Coach	Not Announced
Bowling Analysis	Nathan Leamon
Strength and Conditioning Coach	Chris Donaldson
Physiotherapist	Prasanth Panchada

KKR Sponsorships

Kolkata Knight Riders have stitched SIX5SIX as the Official Kitting Partner for the 2025 Season. Furthermore, the three-time IPL champions have announced RR Kabel as their main partner for the forthcoming season. The three-time winners’ additional partners include Lux Cozi, TV9, Joy Care, Jio, 1 Finance, Acko, Wrogn, McDowell’s No.1, Glance, Nestle Munch, LG, BKT Growing Together, Thums Up, Kotak, Mio Amore, Open, Rollick Ice Cream, Sampark Advertising & Media Pvt Ltd, Fever FM, and Radio One 94.3.

KKR Networth

The defending Champions of IPL 2025 Kolkata Knight Riders are among top 4 most valuable teams of this tournament with the valuation of approx $109 Millions. There are only 4 teams including KKR to have valuation over $100 Million among all the teams of IPL.

Kolkata Knight Riders Instagram

The Instagram ID for KKR is kkriders

Kolkata Knight Riders Twitter

The twitter id for KKR is @KKRiders

KKR Batting Stats	Name
Most Runs:	Gautam Gambhir; 3346 runs
Most Centuries:	Brendon McCullum, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer; 1
Most Fifties:	Gautam Gambhir; 30
Fastest Fifty:	Yusuf Pathan, Sunil Narine; 15 balls
Fastest Century:	Sunil Narine; 49 balls
Best Batting Average:	Owais Shah; 57.50
Best Strike Rate	KC Cariappa; 300.00
Most Sixes:	Andre Russell; 211
Most Fours:	Gautam Gambhir; 383
Highest Individual Score:	Brendon McCullum; 158*

KKR Bowling Stats	Name
Most Wickets	Sunil Narine; 198 Wickets
Best Economy	Sunil Narine; 6.55
Best Bowling Figures	Sunil Narine; 19/5
Best Bowling Average	Shoaib Akhtar; 10.80
Most Maidens	Sunil Narine; 4
Most Runs Conceded	Harshit Rana, Lakshmipathy Balaji; 61
Most 4 Wickets	Sunil Narine; 9
Most Hat-tricks	Sunil Narine; 1

KKR Performance Over The Years

Year	Captain	Result	Top Batter	Runs	Top Bowler	Wickets	Win%
2008	Sourav Ganguly	6th Place	Sourav Ganguly	349	Umar Gul	12	46.16%
2009	Brendon McCullum	8th Place	Brad Hodge	365	Ishant Sharma	11	23.07%
2010	Sourav Ganguly	6th Place	Sourav Ganguly	493	Ashok Dinda	9	50%
2011	Gautam Gambhir	4th Place	Jacques Kallis	424	Yusuf Pathan	13	68.75%
2012	Gautam Gambhir	Champions	Gautam Gambhir	590	Sunil Narine	24	70.58%
2013	Gautam Gambhir	6th Place	Gautam Gambhir	406	Sunil Narine	22	37.50%
2014	Gautam Gambhir	Champions	Robin Uthappa	660	Sunil Narine	21	68.75%
2015	Gautam Gambhir	5th Place	Robin Uthappa	364	Andre Russell	14	53.84%
2016	Gautam Gambhir	4th Place	Gautam Gambhir	501	Andre Russell	15	53.33%
2017	Gautam Gambhir	3rd Place	Gautam Gambhir	498	Chris Woakes	17	57.14%
2018	Dinesh Karthik	3rd Place	Dinesh Karthik	498	Kuldeep Yadav	17	56.30%
2019	Dinesh Karthik	5th Place	Andre Russell	510	Andre Russell	11	42.85%
2020	Dinesh Karthik/Eoin Morgan	5th Place	Shubman Gill	440	Varun Chakravarthy	17	50.00%
2021	Eoin Morgan	Runners-up	Venkatesh Iyer	370	Varun Chakravarthy	18	52.9%
2022	Shreyas Iyer	7th Place	Shreyas Iyer	401	Andre Russell	17	42.9%
2023	Nitish Rana	7th Place	Rinku Singh	474	Varun Chakravarthy	20	42.85%
2024	Shreyas Iyer	Champions	Sunil Narine	488	Varun Chakravarthy	21	78.57%

Kolkata Knight Riders: Players to watch out

It was tough for KKR to retain their key players, they let go their core players. However, they retained Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, and Harshit Rana. During the IPL 2025 mega auction, KKR strengthened its lineup with amazing international and domestic talent. Here is the whole KKR squad for the season.

Full Squad of KKR: Rinku Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Ramandeep Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Luvnith Sisodia, Harshit Rana, Anrich Nortje, Spencer Johnson, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Varun Chakaravarthy, Mayank Markande.