| Club: | Kolkata Knight Riders |
| Season: | 2020 |
| Coach: | Brendon McCullum |
| Captain: | Eoin Morgan (matches 8–14 matches) Dinesh Karthik (matches 1–7) |
| Ground: | Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi |
| Most Runs: | Shubman Gill (440 Runs) |
| Most Wickets: | Varun Chakravarthy (17 Wickets) |
| Comp1: | 2020 Indian Premier League |
| Comp1 Result: | 5th |
| Prevseason: | 2019 |
| Nextseason: | 2021 |
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.[1] [2] The franchise previously qualified for the IPL playoffs in 2011 and won the tournament in 2012 and 2014.[3] [4] 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.
See main article: List of 2020 Indian Premier League personnel changes. The Kolkata Knight Riders retained 13 players and released ten players.[5] On 12 September, Ali Khan becomes first USA cricketer to join IPL as replacement for Harry Gurney.[6]
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.
Brendon McCullum expressed happiness after being appointed KKR's coach, saying it was an honour for him.[7]
On 13 March 2020, the BCCI postponed the tournament until 15 April, in view of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.[8] After Narendra Modi said that the lockdown in India would last until at least 3 May 2020,[9] the BCCI suspended the tournament indefinitely.[10]
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".[11] In June 2020, the BCCI confirmed that their preference was to host the tournament in India, possibly between September and October.[12] On 24 July 2020, it was confirmed that the tournament would start from 19 September 2020.[13]
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.[14] A senior BCCI official confirmed that leg-spinner Pravin Tambe would not play in the IPL 2020 since he had played in T10 league.[15]
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."[16]
Gautam Gambhir said on the Star Sports Cricket Live show:
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.[17]
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.[18]
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.[19]
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".[20] Eoin Morgan was henceforth appointed as the captain.[21]
The team could win only 3 games in the second half of the league stage[22] and ended up with 14 points.[23] 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.[24]
| No. | Name | Nationality | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Year signed | Salary | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batsmen | |||||||||
| 27 | 27 December 1993 | Left-handed | 2018 | ||||||
| 77 | Shubman Gill | 8 September 1999 | Right-handed | 2018 | |||||
| 35 | 12 October 1997 | Left-handed | 2018 | ||||||
| 23 May 1992 | Right-handed | 2020 | |||||||
| 16 | Eoin Morgan | 10 September 1986 | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | 2020 | Overseas | |||
| 52 | 2 March 1991 | Right-handed | 2020 | ||||||
| All-rounders | |||||||||
| 12 | Andre Russell | 29 April 1988 | Right-handed | 2018 | Overseas | ||||
| 74 | Sunil Narine | 26 May 1988 | Left-handed | 2018 | Overseas | ||||
| 93 | 1 October 1993 | Right-handed | 2020 | Overseas | |||||
| Wicket-keepers | |||||||||
| 19 | Dinesh Karthik | 1 June 1985 | Right-handed | 2018 | Captain until match 8 | ||||
| Tim Seifert | 14 December 1994 | Right-handed | 2020 | Overseas | |||||
| 18 | Tom Banton | 11 November 1998 | Right-handed | 2020 | Overseas | ||||
| 7 | 9 November 1994 | Right-handed | 2020 | ||||||
| Spin Bowlers | |||||||||
| 23 | Kuldeep Yadav | 14 December 1994 | Left-handed | 2018 | |||||
| 29 | 29 August 1991 | Right-handed | 2020 | ||||||
| 3 July 1998 | Right-handed | Left-arm orthodox | 2020 | ||||||
| Pace Bowlers | |||||||||
| 5 | 28 December 1999 | Right-handed | 2018 | ||||||
| 26 | 26 November 1998 | Right-handed | 2018 | ||||||
| 24 | 19 February 1996 | Right-handed | 2018 | ||||||
| 69 | Lockie Ferguson | 13 June 1991 | Right-handed | 2019 | Overseas | ||||
| 11 | Harry Gurney | 25 October 1986 | Right-handed | 2019 | Overseas | ||||
| 63 | 4 April 1991 | Right-handed | 2019 | ||||||
| 30 | Pat Cummins | 8 May 1993 | Right-handed | 2020 | Overseas | ||||
| 47 | 13 December 1990 | Right-handed | 2020 | Overseas | |||||
| Position | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | Shah Rukh Khan (Red Chillies Entertainment), Jay Mehta, Juhi Chawla (Mehta Group) | |
| CEO and Managing Director | Venky Mysore | |
| Team manager | Wayne Bentley | |
| Head coach | Brendon McCullum | |
| Assistant coach | Abhishek Nayar | |
| Bowling coach | Kyle Mills | |
| Mentor | David Hussey | |
| Fielding coach | James Foster | |
| Strength and Conditioning coach | Chris Donaldson | |
| Head Physiotherapist | Kamlesh Jain | |
| Source: KKR Players | ||
Principal Sponsor: MPL
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| No. | Name | Match | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave. | BF | SR | 100s | 50s | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | 14 | 1 | 440 | 70* | 33.84 | 373 | 117.96 | 0 | 3 | 44 | 9 | |
| 2 | 14 | 14 | 4 | 418 | 68* | 41.80 | 302 | 138.41 | 0 | 1 | 32 | 24 | |
| 3 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 352 | 87 | 25.14 | 254 | 138.58 | 0 | 3 | 43 | 12 | |
| 4 | 11 | 11 | 1 | 230 | 81 | 23.00 | 181 | 127.07 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 10 | |
| 5 | 14 | 14 | 2 | 169 | 58 | 14.08 | 134 | 126.11 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 4 | |
| 6 | 14 | 11 | 4 | 146 | 53* | 20.85 | 114 | 128.07 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 8 | |
| 7 | Sunil Narine | 10 | 9 | 0 | 121 | 64 | 13.44 | 85 | 142.35 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 8 |
| 8 | Andre Russell | 10 | 9 | 0 | 117 | 25 | 13.00 | 81 | 144.44 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| No. | Name | Match | Inns | Overs | Runs | Wickets | BBI | Avg. | Econ. | SR | 4W | 5W |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Varun Chakravarthy | 13 | 13 | 52 | 356 | 17 | 20/5 | 20.94 | 6.84 | 18.35 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Pat Cummins | 14 | 14 | 52 | 409 | 12 | 34/4 | 34.08 | 7.86 | 26.00 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | 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 | 0 |
| 5 | Andre Russell | 10 | 7 | 18 | 175 | 6 | 29/2 | 29.16 | 9.72 | 18.00 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Sunil Narine | 10 | 10 | 38 | 302 | 5 | 28/2 | 60.40 | 7.94 | 45.60 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Kamlesh Nagarkoti | 9 | 9 | 26 | 231 | 5 | 13/2 | 46.20 | 8.88 | 31.20 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Prasidh Krishna | 6 | 6 | 17.3 | 164 | 4 | 29/3 | 41.00 | 9.37 | 26.25 | 0 | 0 |
| No. | Date | Player | Opponent | Result | Contribution | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Won By 7 wickets | 70* (62) | [27] | ||||
| 2 | Won By 37 runs | 2/22 (4 overs) | [28] | ||||
| 3 | 7 October 2020 | Rahul Tripathi | Chennai Super Kings | Won by 10 runs | 81 (51) | [29] | |
| 4 | 10 October 2020 | Dinesh Karthik | Kings XI Punjab | Won by 2 runs | 58 (29) | [30] | |
| 5 | 18 October 2020 | Lockie Ferguson | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Won in super over | 3/15 (4 overs) | [31] | |
| 6 | 24 October 2020 | Varun Chakravarthy | Delhi Capitals | Won by 59 runs | 5/20 (4 overs) | [32] | |
| 7 | 1 November 2020 | Pat Cummins | Rajasthan Royals | Won by 60 runs | 4/34 (4 overs) | [33] |