Symbol of KKR

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

• The Kolkata Knight Riders abbreviated as KKR are a franchise cricket team representing the city of Kolkata in the Indian Premier League. The franchise is owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, actress Juhi Chawla and her spouse Jay Mehta. The Knight Riders play at the iconic Eden Gardens stadium.
• The home venue of the Knight Riders is the iconic Eden Gardens. Owned by the Cricket Association of Bengal, it was the largest cricket stadium in India and had a seating capacity of over 90,000.
• In 2011, the stadium was renovated to meet the standards set by the International Cricket Council for the 2011 Cricket World Cup; reducing its capacity to around 68,000. The renovated stadium includes a new clubhouse and players’ facilities, upgrading the exterior wall, cladding the existing roof structure with a new metal skin, and general infrastructure improvements. In 2013, two of the team’s home matches were hosted by the JSCA International Cricket Stadium in Ranchi.

• The franchise, which has gained immense popularity due to its association with celebrity owners, qualified for the IPL playoffs for the first time in 2011. They became the IPL champions in 2012, by defeating Chennai Super Kings in the final. They repeated the feat in 2014, defeating Kings XI Punjab. The Knight Riders hold the record for the longest winning streak by any Indian team in T20s by winning 14 T20's.
• The side’s all-time leading run-scorer is Gautam Gambhir, while their leading wicket-taker is Sunil Narine. The official theme of the team is Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo Re which means “we will perform, fight and win!” and the official colours are purple and gold. The brand value of the Knight Riders was estimated at $104 million in 2018, second highest among IPL franchises. In 2019, their value was estimated at ₹629 crore (i.e.) US$88 million.
• Initially, when the Kolkata Knight Riders were first introduced in 2008, the logo of the team consisted of a blazing golden Viking helmet against a black background with the name of the team written in gold next to it. However, the black background was changed to purple in the third season. It was in 2012 that the current logo, which has a blazing purple Corinthian helmet trimmed with gold, with Kolkata Knight Riders written within a shield was introduced.
• The tagline of the team was “All the King’s Men” during the first four seasons. However, in the fifth it was replaced by “New Dawn, New Knights”. The team’s official colours were black and gold during the first two seasons. At the time, Khan said that “golden symbolizes spirit of life and black presents the Goddess Kali.” It was later changed to purple and gold during the third season and was kept so. The jersey was created by Bollywood fashion designer Manish Malhotra.

• The main theme of the team Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo Re (we will act, fight and win!) was scored by Vishal-Shekhar duo. A Knight Riders album featuring several singers and music composers including Usha Uthup and Bappi Lahiri was also created.
• In 2007, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) created the cricket tournament Indian Premier League, based on the Twenty20 format of the game. Eight teams participated in the inaugural tournament held in April to June 2008. The teams representing the eight different cities of India were put up on auction in Mumbai on 20 February 2008.
• The team representing Kolkata was eventually bought by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s company Red Chillies Entertainment in partnership with actress Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta for a price of $75.09 million, equal to approximately ₹2.98 billion at that time. Sourav Ganguly, former captain of the Indian national team, a native of West Bengal and the current President of BCCI, was named the Icon player for the team. The name of the team is a reference to the popular 1980s American television series Knight Rider.
• *In June 2015, the team’s ownership group bought a stake in the Caribbean Premier League’s Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel, and renaming it the Trinbago Knight Riders in 2016. In December 2020, the team also made an investment in the upcoming American T20 league Major League Cricket.

• Multinational communications corporation Nokia was the official founding sponsor of the Kolkata Knight Riders and remained their principal sponsor until 2014. In 2015, Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Gionee took over as their principal sponsor and signed a three-year deal worth ₹540 million (i.e.) US$7.6 million.
• In 2018, Nokia returned as the main sponsor of the Knight Riders, signing a two-year deal. Star Plus, Reebok, HDIL, Kit Kat, SB Nation, Doublemint, SAP AG, Asian Paints, Red FM 93.5, The Telegraph, Seiko, U.S. Polo Assn., Uber, Dish TV, Sansui Electric, Ola Cabs, Exide, Ibibo, Sprite, Dream11, Pepsi, Sony Music India, Royal Stag, Greenply, MoneyGram, Fever 104 FM and Pocari Sweat have all formerly been either co-sponsors or partners.
• In 2020, MPL became their principal sponsor. As of 2021, they have co-sponsorship deals with Jio, Lux Cozi, Colgate, Pentonic and Unacademy along with others. They also have partnerships with Kotak Mahindra Bank, BKT Tyres, Kingfisher Calendar and Amul Kool.

Standings of KKR from 2008 to 2020:

• In 2020, they didn’t qualified to Playoffs by Net Run Rate and looking to give strong comeback by winning the trophy for 3rd time having strong squad. Let’s see what happens in 2021 season.