Kolkata Knight Riders (a
lso referred to as KKR) is the franchise representing Kolkata in the Indian Premier League, a Twenty20 cricket tournament. The team is led by Brendon McCullum, and coached by John Buchanan. Sourav Ganguly is the team's Icon Player. The official theme of the team is Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo Re (We will do it, Fight for it, Win it) and the official colors are black and gold. Despite all the hooplah surrounding it, unfortunately in 2009 season it got badged with the title of worst team to play in IPL shadowing Royal Challengers stint in IPL 2008.Franchise History
Knight Riders is one of the franchise of the eight team taking part in the Indian Premier League. It was bought by Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment in partnership with Juhi Chawla Mehta and her husband, Jai Mehta
2008 IPL Season
Performance
The Knight Riders had a good beginning to the season by winning their first two matches against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Deccan Chargers. Knight Riders' opening batsman Brendon McCullum scored 158 runs in the first match, which is a record for the highest runs ever scored by a batsman in a Twenty-20 match.[1] However, the team started experiencing failures and lost consecutive four matches. The team managed to stage a comeback of sorts by winning next three matches based on strong performances by Sourav and Shoaib Akhtar. But their performance dipped again and lost next three matches, which included their match against Mumbai Indians, in which they were bowled out for 67 runs, the lowest score by a team in IPL 2008 season.[2] When their match against Delhi Daredevils was washed out due to rain, they lost any chance of making it to the semifinals.[3]. The Knight Riders ended their season on a winning note by defeating Kings XI Punjab on their home ground.
Controversy
There were reports of a rift between Shahrukh Khan and Sourav Ganguly over various issues such as team composition, Sourav's choice of batting first in the game against Chennai Super Kings, entertainment tax being imposed for matches played at Eden Gardens (Shahrukh reportedly wanted Sourav to speak to the West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya about it, which was refused by Sourav).[4] It was also reported that Shahrukh Khan bestowed more powers to John Buchanan including giving him full powers to select the team for the following year which was not liked by Sourav.[4] However, the team management issued a statement that the reports of a possible rift are untrue.[5]
Shahrukh Khan was further barred by the International Cricket Council Anti-Corruption Unit from entering the dressing room of the team when matches were in progress. Shahrukh Khan then issued a statement that he would be boycotting the remaining matches of the IPL till the code of conduct was clarified by the IPL authorities.[6].
There were also speculations that Kolkata Knight Riders will shift its base from Kolkata to Ahmedabad because of the money demanded by the C.A.B. But after a meeting with Jagmohan Dalmiya, Shah Rukh Khan assured everyone that his team will stay in Kolkata.
Financial
Financially, the Knight Riders were easily the most successful franchise in the IPL, achieving a profit of Rs. 13 crore.
2009 IPL Season
Players
Kolkata Knight Riders was among the least active franchises during the off season, with no player trades. However, the team signed Mohnish Parmar during the off season and also resigned Ajantha Mendis to a long term deal. The most notable personnel move for Knight Riders came during the 2009 IPL Auction, where the team signed Bangladesh all-rounder Mashrafe Mortaza.
Cheer Leaders
KKR would be the first team in IPL who will be finding its cheer leaders by a talent hunt show called knights and angels, judged by Sourav Ganguly and Guest Star and hosted by Bollywood actor Purab Kohli. However, the winning team did not get a chance to perform at games during the 2009 season since local authorities only allowed South African cheerleaders to be used.
Livery
The logo of the team consists of a blazing golden Viking helmet against a black background with the name of the team Kolkata Knight Riders written in gold. The main theme of the team Korbo, Lorbo, Jitbo Re (We will do it, Fight for it, Win it) has been created by Vishal-Shekhar duo.[8] A Knight Rider album with several singers and music composers including Usha Uthup and Bappi Lahiri will also be created.[9] The tag line of the team is All the King's Men.[8] The team's official colours are black and gold. Black stands for the courage of Maa Kali and gold stands for the spirit of winning. The jersey was created by Bollywood fashion designer Manish Malhotra.[8] The team also has a mascot named Hoog Lee, who is a lazy Royal Bengal Tiger and loves to eat burgers. The name is a pun on the river Hooghly. The name Knight Riders has been chosen keeping in view the kids and the youth.[8]
Controversy: Ganguly and the Fake IPL Blogger
The rift between Saurav Ganguly and Shahrukh Khan has taken a new turn as Saurav Ganguly was removed from the captaincy in the 11th hour and replaced by Brendon McCullum. Rumors are that John Buchanan wanted Ganguly out. First, he floated a series of theories discussing “multiple-captains” before completely undermining Ganguly’s captaincy. Soon thereafter, a blog has popped up on the web. The writing of a mystery blogger, who claims to be a member of the team and seems determined to out every team secret, warts and all. The posts describe what the blogger claims are team meetings, arguments between coach and team members, post-match parties and pre-match strategy. [10]
Kolkata dropped from Kolkata Knight Riders merchandise
The Knight Riders merchandise have dropped 'Kolkata' from its merchandise fuelling controversy that the team base may be shifted to Ahmedabad next year. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/kolkata-droppedkolkata-knight-riders/355870/
Players
Callum Ferguson was recently added to squad. He is expected to join team after Chapal Series against Pakistan. Sourav Ganguly, the former captain of the Indian cricket team is the icon player and led the Kolkata franchise. The team also includes the allrounder Chris Gayle, David Hussey, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Moises Henriques, wicket keeper batsman Brendon McCullum, Wriddhiman Saha. The main bowlers are Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Ajit Agarkar and Murali Karthik.Australian Skipper Ricky Ponting who played only a few matches in 2008 season before returning to National duties, has pulled off from IPL2 due to personal reasons. Australian batsman Brad Hodge and Sri Lankan bowler Ajantha Mendis were bought outside IPL Auction on 2008. On IPL Auction 2009 Team bought Bangladeshi All-Rounder Mashrafe Mortaza.Team also includes Charl Langeveldt who was signed outside of Auction.Due to Pakistani players unavailability in 2009 Team has to suspend contract of key performer of 2008 season Umar Gul.[11][12].Middle order Batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has been ruled out of the IPL Season 2 due to knee injury which he got during practice session in training camp at South Africa.Wicket Keeper Wriddhiman Saha was also injured in the same camp but he will be available selection after 3 games.On April 26, 2009, KKR administration sent back two of its players Akash Chopra and Sanjay Bhangar on the premises of poor performance. But there is high media speculation that one or both of them have been caught or strongly suspected of being the "fake IPL player" responsible for the blog which has been creating ripples with inside information on KKR team.
Performance
The Knight Riders had a good beginning to the season by winning their first two matches against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Deccan Chargers. Knight Riders' opening batsman Brendon McCullum scored 158 runs in the first match, which is a record for the highest runs ever scored by a batsman in a Twenty-20 match.[1] However, the team started experiencing failures and lost consecutive four matches. The team managed to stage a comeback of sorts by winning next three matches based on strong performances by Sourav and Shoaib Akhtar. But their performance dipped again and lost next three matches, which included their match against Mumbai Indians, in which they were bowled out for 67 runs, the lowest score by a team in IPL 2008 season.[2] When their match against Delhi Daredevils was washed out due to rain, they lost any chance of making it to the semifinals.[3]. The Knight Riders ended their season on a winning note by defeating Kings XI Punjab on their home ground.
Controversy
There were reports of a rift between Shahrukh Khan and Sourav Ganguly over various issues such as team composition, Sourav's choice of batting first in the game against Chennai Super Kings, entertainment tax being imposed for matches played at Eden Gardens (Shahrukh reportedly wanted Sourav to speak to the West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya about it, which was refused by Sourav).[4] It was also reported that Shahrukh Khan bestowed more powers to John Buchanan including giving him full powers to select the team for the following year which was not liked by Sourav.[4] However, the team management issued a statement that the reports of a possible rift are untrue.[5]
Shahrukh Khan was further barred by the International Cricket Council Anti-Corruption Unit from entering the dressing room of the team when matches were in progress. Shahrukh Khan then issued a statement that he would be boycotting the remaining matches of the IPL till the code of conduct was clarified by the IPL authorities.[6].
There were also speculations that Kolkata Knight Riders will shift its base from Kolkata to Ahmedabad because of the money demanded by the C.A.B. But after a meeting with Jagmohan Dalmiya, Shah Rukh Khan assured everyone that his team will stay in Kolkata.
Financial
Financially, the Knight Riders were easily the most successful franchise in the IPL, achieving a profit of Rs. 13 crore.
2009 IPL Season
Players
Kolkata Knight Riders was among the least active franchises during the off season, with no player trades. However, the team signed Mohnish Parmar during the off season and also resigned Ajantha Mendis to a long term deal. The most notable personnel move for Knight Riders came during the 2009 IPL Auction, where the team signed Bangladesh all-rounder Mashrafe Mortaza.
Cheer Leaders
KKR would be the first team in IPL who will be finding its cheer leaders by a talent hunt show called knights and angels, judged by Sourav Ganguly and Guest Star and hosted by Bollywood actor Purab Kohli. However, the winning team did not get a chance to perform at games during the 2009 season since local authorities only allowed South African cheerleaders to be used.
Livery
The logo of the team consists of a blazing golden Viking helmet against a black background with the name of the team Kolkata Knight Riders written in gold. The main theme of the team Korbo, Lorbo, Jitbo Re (We will do it, Fight for it, Win it) has been created by Vishal-Shekhar duo.[8] A Knight Rider album with several singers and music composers including Usha Uthup and Bappi Lahiri will also be created.[9] The tag line of the team is All the King's Men.[8] The team's official colours are black and gold. Black stands for the courage of Maa Kali and gold stands for the spirit of winning. The jersey was created by Bollywood fashion designer Manish Malhotra.[8] The team also has a mascot named Hoog Lee, who is a lazy Royal Bengal Tiger and loves to eat burgers. The name is a pun on the river Hooghly. The name Knight Riders has been chosen keeping in view the kids and the youth.[8]
Controversy: Ganguly and the Fake IPL Blogger
The rift between Saurav Ganguly and Shahrukh Khan has taken a new turn as Saurav Ganguly was removed from the captaincy in the 11th hour and replaced by Brendon McCullum. Rumors are that John Buchanan wanted Ganguly out. First, he floated a series of theories discussing “multiple-captains” before completely undermining Ganguly’s captaincy. Soon thereafter, a blog has popped up on the web. The writing of a mystery blogger, who claims to be a member of the team and seems determined to out every team secret, warts and all. The posts describe what the blogger claims are team meetings, arguments between coach and team members, post-match parties and pre-match strategy. [10]
Kolkata dropped from Kolkata Knight Riders merchandise
The Knight Riders merchandise have dropped 'Kolkata' from its merchandise fuelling controversy that the team base may be shifted to Ahmedabad next year. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/kolkata-droppedkolkata-knight-riders/355870/
Players
Callum Ferguson was recently added to squad. He is expected to join team after Chapal Series against Pakistan. Sourav Ganguly, the former captain of the Indian cricket team is the icon player and led the Kolkata franchise. The team also includes the allrounder Chris Gayle, David Hussey, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Moises Henriques, wicket keeper batsman Brendon McCullum, Wriddhiman Saha. The main bowlers are Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Ajit Agarkar and Murali Karthik.Australian Skipper Ricky Ponting who played only a few matches in 2008 season before returning to National duties, has pulled off from IPL2 due to personal reasons. Australian batsman Brad Hodge and Sri Lankan bowler Ajantha Mendis were bought outside IPL Auction on 2008. On IPL Auction 2009 Team bought Bangladeshi All-Rounder Mashrafe Mortaza.Team also includes Charl Langeveldt who was signed outside of Auction.Due to Pakistani players unavailability in 2009 Team has to suspend contract of key performer of 2008 season Umar Gul.[11][12].Middle order Batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has been ruled out of the IPL Season 2 due to knee injury which he got during practice session in training camp at South Africa.Wicket Keeper Wriddhiman Saha was also injured in the same camp but he will be available selection after 3 games.On April 26, 2009, KKR administration sent back two of its players Akash Chopra and Sanjay Bhangar on the premises of poor performance. But there is high media speculation that one or both of them have been caught or strongly suspected of being the "fake IPL player" responsible for the blog which has been creating ripples with inside information on KKR team.
