After being the laughing stock of the IPL for the first two seasons, the Kolkata Knight Riders came back with vengeance and fury. A Team full of the Bollywood quotient provided splendid drama in Cricket with performances and controversies. The East Indian team has won the IPL Trophy two times so far.

Kolkata Knight Riders – IPL History

Best Performance:

The Knights Riders have won the IPL twice, 2012 and 2014. There best performance was definitely the 2012 IPL where they won 12 of their 18 matches, ending second in the group stage. They defeated the favorites – CSK in the final with a heroic knock from Manvinder Bisla, who smashed 89(48) to chase 191 runs.

Worst Performance:

The first two years in the IPL were the most difficult for Kolkata Knight Riders. After McCullum’s 158 blitz in the IPL opener, they descended to the sixth spot in the inaugural IPL. The next season was even worse.

In the second IPL season, which was played in South Africa, the team suffered heavily under the weird coaching of John Buchanan who tried more experiments than a chemistry lab. KKR went through a 9-match losing stream and eventually ended last in the table.

Also Read: IPL 2018: KKR Hopeful Of Injury Prone Players Ahead Of Tournament Opener

2017 IPL Performance:

The team under the able captaincy of Gautam Gambhir did well last year. The opening combo of Narine and Lynn set a new standard in the IPL and they smashed the bowlers to the pieces. Uthappa’s consistency was important for the team too.

KKR ended fourth in the table. They defeated SRH in the eliminator thanks largely to the rain intervention. In the next match, Mumbai Indians defeated KKR by a huge margin to knock them out.

Strength:

Kolkata Knight Riders possess Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, and Sunil Narine. In T20 Cricket, these three are world-champions. Any on their day will ensure the victory for the team with their single-handed performance.

Playing on Indian pitches, the spin bowlers are the most important lot. KKR has Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla. They are two of the best Indian spinners playing currently. Any other team would have been happy to have one, Kolkata has two deadly spinners here.

The young brigade that led India to the under-19 title makes its representation in the KKR squad. Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi and Shubhman Gill will be eager prove themselves on the big stage.

Also Read: IPL 2018 Preview: Delhi Darvedevils – The Ultimate Underachievers

Weakness:

Unavailability of the stars. The Big three on whom KKR depends heavily, Narine-Russell-Lynn all have problems that may keep them out of IPL. Injury in case of Russell and Lynn and Suspect action of Narine will be the worries that will plague KKR.

The Australian duo of Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson is also injury-prone and their participation is always a chancy affair. KKR may have issues in their bowling line-up when playing on non-spinning pitches.

Apart from Robin Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik, KKR does not have an experienced Indian batsman who can control things in difficult situations. If Lynn and Russell miss out, they do not have any explosive batsman of a high standard.

Prediction for IPL 11:

KKR this year is short on back-up. Their major players are extremely fragile and if they failed to turn up, KKR’s campaign is in jeopardy. If their all superstars put up a show, Kolkata can defeat any team in the IPL.

Expected End Position – Somewhere in the last three teams on the table

Full Squad:

Dinesh Karthik (C), Robin Uthappa (VC), Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Singh Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, Ranganath Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searles, Apoorv Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi