Kolkata Knight Riders Betting
Two-time winners the Kolkata Knight Riders can boast two or three of the very best T20 players in the world and if they all get going, a third title isn’t out of the question.
That, however, is countered by the fact that as a playing XI as a whole, they’re not quite up there with other IPL sides.
Over the past few seasons, their decision to give Dinesh Karthik the captaincy proved to not be the best one, the former India international finding it difficult to combine his dual role as an important middle-order batsman and keeper with the captaincy.
Having handed over the role to England skipper Eoin Morgan for the second half of the 2020 campaign, Morgan will now lead the team from the start this time around.
Any side with Andre Russell, (on his day the best T20 player in the world) is as dangerous as it is entertaining. If they can keep the big man fit and others around him do their specific jobs well, you can’t rule them out.
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Kolkata Knight Riders best odds
If you enjoy some IPL betting, then the Knight Riders at 7.0 to win the IPL is a decent wager. That looks about right.
On the one hand, their group of four or five elite players are capable of taking any team down. But on the other hand, you’d have a hard time arguing that they shouldn’t be longer in the betting than say Chennai, Hyderabad or Mumbai Indians.
These three have more-rounded teams, better plans and superior results over the past few seasons. Which of course is why those teams are shorter in the betting.
With KKR best odds of 7.0 at 10CRIC, they’re an interesting prospect as a mid-priced team.
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Kolkata Knight Riders Predictions
You will find Kolkata Knight Riders match predictions for every game right here. It is part of our series of cricket betting predictions that you can get for free!
You can also check out our quick Payment Guide on how to make a deposit. Find today’s KKR match betting tips below.
Our Prediction for the Season: KKR to blah the blah
Today’s KKR match predictions
Have Kolkata Knight Riders won the IPL before?
The Knight Riders have won this tournament twice before. In 2012, they beat Chennai Super Kings in the final, after chasing the Super Kings’ 190 with surprising ease given it was with an over to spare. Manvinder Bisla was the unlikely hero who’s 89 off 48 was the difference between the two sides.
Their skipper at the time, Gautam Gambhir, ended the season on a massive 590 runs with only the great Chris Gayle scoring more than him; the West Indies star amassing a barely-believable 733 for the season.
They repeated the trick in 2014, again finishing as runners-up in the Group Stages, again winning the Qualifier 1 to make the final. This time the final was a lot closer, chasing the Punjab Kings who had a total of 200 with just three balls and three wickets to spare. This time it was Manish Pandey who played the crucial knock, with 94.
KKR performance 2020
It was a strangely inconsistent season for them. They won exactly half their Group Games (seven out of 14) and part of the problem was that though on two occasions they won two matches in a row, they never managed three.
Halfway through the season Karthik handed the captaincy over to Morgan but results didn’t necessarily improve. If anything, they actually won one more match under Karthik than they did with Morgan in charge.
In the end they finished fifth, tied on 14 points with Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore but missed out on the Play-Offs due to an inferior net run rate.
Shubman Gill had a good season with the bat, scoring 440 runs including three fifties. With the ball it was Varun Chakravarthy who starred, taking 17 wickets in 13 games with an extremely impressive economy rate of 6.84.
Big money man Pat Cummins had a decent season with 12 wickets in 14 games to go with his 146 runs; but more was expected from him given his price tag and reputation.
KKR performance 2019
Andre Russell performed miracle after miracle with the bat and was duly named Player of the Tournament after striking at over 200 in scoring four fifties and winning many a game with some obscenely big hitting.
But it wasn’t quite enough and they ended up missing out on the Play-offs on net run rate.
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Kolkata Knight Riders Facts
- The franchise is highly popular owing to its celebrity owners – Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, and Jay Mehta.
- Kolkata Knight Riders have won the IPL twice – once in 2012 and the other time in 2014.
- KKR acquired a stake in the Caribbean Premier League team Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel in 2015, later renamed to Trinbago Knight Riders.
- They hold the record for the largest IPL victory, beating Royal Challengers Bangalore in the very first match of the IPL 1 by 140 runs.
- Team owner Shah Rukh Khan is controversial among IPL franchise owners. He is banned from entering the team’s dressing rooms and was also briefly banned from the Wankhede Stadium.
KKR team 2021
| Position | Players |
|---|---|
| Batsmen: | Eoin Morgan (c), Rahul Tripathi, Karun Nair, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Shubman Gill |
| All-rounders: | Shakib Al Hasan, Ben Cutting, Andre Russell, Pawan Negi, Venkatesh Iyer, Shivam Mavi |
| Wicket-keepers: | Dinesh Karthik, Sheldon Jackson, Tim Seifert |
| Spinners: | Harbhajan Singh, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav |
| Fast Bowlers: | Sandeep Warrier, Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Vaibhav Arora, Kamlesh Nagarkoti |
Captain: Eoin Morgan
As stated already, Morgan has already had half a season of KKR captaincy under his belt, having taken over halfway through last season.
We all know what a wonderful captain he’s been for England over the past few years in white-ball cricket. On his watch they won the 2019 ODI World Cup and made the 2016 T20 World Cup final.
However, captaining an IPL side is a different kettle of fish with different players at his disposal and different challenges.
And Morgan can’t afford to neglect his own batting, either. He’s fresh from an indifferent ODI and T20I Series against India and KKR will need plenty of runs from him.
Gun player: Andre Russell
Andre Russell is probably the first T20 player you choose from any in the world if you could select just the one cricket player to join your side.
A fast bowler who bowls with pace and menace both at the top and at the death if necessary and also one of the fastest and most agile fielders in the game. But it’s with the bat that he really earns his corn, coming in at five or six and scoring at an insanely rapid rate when in the mood.
No boundary is big enough for him and the only question is why he doesn’t often bat higher, at say four. The big problem with Russell is fitness. Too often he breaks down during a tournament and the side are left with a massive hole to fill.
Promising youngster: Shubman Gill
It may not be completely correct to call him ‘promising’ given he’s played a lot of IPL cricket already but on the other hand, he’s still only 21.
He was KKR’s top-scorer last season as an opening batsman and his classic strokeplay and good placement make him perfectly suited to playing the anchor role for the side and batting deep. Having said that, both he and KKR need to be aware of the risk of him occasionally scoring too slowly.
He recently made his debut for India in both the Test and ODI side, proof of how highly he’s rated.
Kolkata Knight Riders Team Analysis
Time to round off our Kolkata Knight Riders preview with some of our expert analysis and tips. The key to a good KKR performance this campaign will be how well they select their overseas players.
Narine and Russell have to play, as does fast bowler Pat Cummins, who as the most expensive purchase of any in the 2020 auction and best-paid foreigner in the history of the IPL, will surely feature as well. As skipper, Morgan will always play as well.
So those four are likely to play the first match as the overseas men. However, we know Russell is injury prone, while Narine has had to miss matches in the past due to a suspect bowling action.
All-rounders Shakib Al-Hasan and Ben Cutting, batsman-keeper Tim Seifert and paceman Lockie Ferguson may have to wait for their chance.
They have veteran Harbhajan Singh coming into the side after he was released by Chennai and he’ll surely keep things tight. Of some concern however is Kuldeep Yadav, who was bitterly disappointing in the recent Series against England.
They look to be at least one quality Indian pace bowler light so as ever, much will depend on how their superstar overseas players perform.
They’re unlikely to go all the way but they certainly have the weapons to make the Play-offs. Go with them to Finish Top 4 and at least be there at the business end of the tournament.
Recommended bet: Back Kolkata to beat Bangalore @ 2.05 with Betway
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Strengths
- Andre Russell is arguably the best T20 player in the world.
- Boast some of the best overseas players of any side in the league.
- Plenty of spin options who can put teams under huge pressure if the wicket is taking spin.
Weaknesses
- Local players not in the same class as in other sides.
- Too dependent on the injury-prone Russell.
Kolkata Knight Riders FAQs
No. The odds for Kolkata are 7.0. They are the fifth favourites out of eight to win.
It’s 6.0 that Kolkata finish rock bottom of the Group Stages in this year’s Indian Premier League. That has admittedly happened once before, in the 2009 edition.
Former Kolkata player and New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum. A dashing batsman and a captain known for taking huge risks, he’s in charge of the side, taking over from Jacques Kallis. They’ll need plenty from McCullum this year because their gameplans haven’t always been the best.
At ₹15.5 crore, Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins is not only Kolkata’s most expensive player but also the most expensive overseas player ever to be bought in the history of the IPL. This is his second spell at Kolkata after also playing in 2014 and 2015 and he was also at Delhi for a year, in 2017.
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