Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have been one of the most exciting franchises in the IPL since its inception. KKR played the very first match of the tournament against Royal Challenger Bangalore in 2008 and with Brendon McCullum lighting it up with 158*.
However, in the first few seasons under Sourav Ganguly and then under John Buchanan’s controversial four-captain theory, KKR lost their way and were not in the picture of title contention, failing to qualify for the knockouts even once.
Gautam Gambhir reasons why Virat Kohli is ahead of Rohit Sharma and Chris Gayle as a batsman
That’s where things changed for the team management, who released all of their players ahead of the IPL 2011 auction and went with a plan to build a new team with new vigor and zeroed in India’s 2011 World Cup hero Gautam Gambhir as the captain.
With new players like Yusuf Pathan, Jacques Kallis, and Sunil Narine in their ranks, KKR started to make the move. The ultimate result was achieved in 2012 when Knight Riders beat Chennai Super Kings in the final to win their maiden IPL title.
On Star Sports show ‘Cricket Connected’, Gautam Gambhir revealed the words KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan said to him when he first took over the reins of the team.
“This is your team, make it or break it, I will not interfere… I just promised him one thing, I don’t know where it’s gonna happen but by the time I leave, whether it’s gonna be three years or six years, this franchise will be in a much better position,” Gambhir said.
Gambhir led the side to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014 and comfortably sit third on the most successful teams in the tournament behind Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings currently.
“You don’t say that he’s (Gambhir) captain cool, he’s the guy who will take a bullet for his players, he’s got all passion. So when you’re standing with Gautam, you’ll never stand alone. So that’s what we did with KKR,” said former KKR team director Joy Bhattacharya.
Gambhir had scored 590 runs in 16 matches at a strike rate of 143.55 – his best ever in IPL - when KKR lifted their maiden trophy in 2012. Under his wing, new talents like Andre Russell, Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Sunil Narine, and Andre Russell made the team stronger.
The successful captain parted ways with KKR after leading them seven seasons and moved to his home team of Delhi Capitals in IPL 2018, which proved to be his final IPL season. KKR meanwhile went for another overhaul and named Dinesh Karthik as their new captain, who led them to a third-place finish in IPL 2018.
