KKR's aura of invincibility: How the Kolkata franchise bossed IPL 2024

If Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) didn’t loom as the overwhelming favourites at the start of IPL 2024, it wasn’t without good reason. In each of the two preceding seasons, the two-time champions had finished in the second half of the table, managing only six wins from 14 outings, 12 points no reflection of the quality that percolated through their ranks.

Also read: IPL 2024 awards full list

Coming into Season 17, however, a lot had changed. For one thing, Shreyas Iyer was back in the mix. Procured ahead of IPL 2022 which saw the induction of two new teams in Gujarat Titans (GT) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Iyer missed the entire 2023 season with a back injury that forced him to undergo surgery. Without their captain, KKR had resembled a rudderless ship, the earnest and hard-working Nitish Rana not quite measuring up to the task as his replacement.

Gambhir back as mentor

Iyer’s return was a huge shot in the arm for the franchise, but an even bigger coup was delivered by the ownership group, which managed to lure Gautam Gambhir back into the fold from LSG as mentor. Gambhir is a certified KKR hero, having shepherded them to titles in 2012 and 2014; the franchise was convinced it needed his leadership to complement uncompromising head coach Chandrakant Pandit. Nothing gees Gambhir up more than the scent of battle, and while he could only direct proceedings from the sidelines, the occasional former India captain left no one in any doubt over who the final say rested with.

Gambhir’s influence manifested itself in two humongous calls which would serve KKR brilliantly. Ahead of the mini-auction, he was seized by the need for a quality overseas fast bowler – read, Mitchell Starc. KKR left no stone unturned in their bid to snare the Aussie left-arm swing bowler’s services. In an unprecedented bidding war, they beat back all contenders by shelling out a whopping Rs 24.75 crore, making Starc comfortably the most expensive buy in the tournament’s history.

Starc is a big-stage player but his IPL appearances in the past had been limited to 27 matches, all for Royal Challengers Bangalore (as the franchise was then known) in 2014 and 2015. He had showcased his excellence with 34 wickets and an economy rate of 7.17 but opted to stay away from the tournament for eight years to focus on his international career. Sensing an opportunity to regain T20 rhythm ahead of the World Cup starting in less than a week’s time, Starc was in for a pleasant shock as KKR broke the bank for him.

Starc delivers in big games

It appeared for a while as if Starc was overwhelmed by the pressure of expectations – he went wicketless in his first two games, conceding 100 runs in eight overs. But Gambhir kept the faith; the left-handed opener has been around long enough to know that class will eventually be out. Putting his famed motivational and man-management skills to optimal use, he threw his weight firmly behind Starc, and the big fella responded in kind. After the horribly tepid start, Starc finished with a flourish, snaring the Player of the Match awards in the two big playoff games – Qualifier 1 and the grand final, both against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Starc ended the season with 17 wickets; as far as Return on Investment is concerned, it couldn’t have gotten much better.

Starc was but one of two Gambhir masterstrokes. Of equal, or perhaps even more, significance was convincing Sunil Narine to return to the top of the batting order. Narine is primarily a mystery spinner who has had to remodel his action after being reported for ‘chucking’. But in the past, he had also opened the batting, playing the occasional blistering cameo before his travails with the short ball proved his undoing.

In the last two seasons combined, Narine had made just 92 runs, batting lower down. Gambhir, under whose leadership Narine had announced himself as a bowler – he took 45 wickets during KKR’s title runs in 2012 and 2014 – urged the left-hander to give the opening slot another go. Perhaps out of respect for the older man, perhaps because he was so taken in by Gambhir’s logic and reasoning and passion, Narine acquiesced, with spectacular results.

Narine's success as opener

Narine finished as KKR’s highest run-getter, with 488 astonishing runs at an incredible strike-rate of 180.74. Along the way, he smashed his first T20 century; he rained 50 fours and 33 sixes, forming an opening combo for the ages with the equally attack-minded Englishman, Phil Salt. The most prolific opening partnership of the season ripped opposition bowling to shreds, bossing the first six Powerplay overs and unleashing such mayhem that the batsmen to follow could afford to gently sail in their wake.

Narine and Salt (435 runs) were superbly backed up by the two Iyers, skipper Shreyas and Venkatesh, who finally found a stable batting slot after yo-yoing up and down the order. Firmly entrenched this year at No. 3, Venkatesh used his long levers to great effect, capping off an excellent campaign with unbeaten half-centuries in the final week. He made 370 attractive runs to Shreyas’ 351. With the top four in such irresistible touch, they didn’t need anyone else apart from Andre Russell to top 200 runs.

KKR's versatile bowling

T20 games are generally won on the strength of the batting, but KKR’s versatility and depth extended to their bowling unit as well. To dismiss all ten batsmen in the opposition once is commendable, to do so twice is awesome. KKR picked up all ten wickets a staggering six times; five bowlers ended up with more than 15 wickets, Varun Chakravarthy leading the way with 21, Russell and the young paceman Harshit Rana taking 19 apiece, and Narine sitting alongside Starc with 17 each. As if this wasn’t enough, Vaibhav Arora, another aggressive young Indian fast bowler, weighed in with 11 scalps. If this doesn’t paint a rosy picture of a potent, unforgiving, attack-minded bowling group, nothing else will.

Before receiving the trophy on Sunday night (May 26) in Chennai, Shreyas called his team ‘invincible’ more than once. You could see why. In the league stage, they lost just three of 12 matches – two were washed out – and they got the job done without fuss in the final week, winning both their matches with so much to spare. There is an aura of invincibility about them that won’t disappear quickly. Even if they might have to contend with life without Gambhir, one of the strong contenders to replace Rahul Dravid as India’s head coach.