5 best signings by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL history

The Indian Premier League has been a great success story and the Kolkata franchise has been one of its popular characters. In all these years they have been entertaining the audience with their exciting brand of cricket. In the process, they won the tournament twice. They also have a large fanbase because of the well-known stars associated with the franchise.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have been home to some of the world-class players. Throughout their journey, they have made some interesting choices in the IPL auctions. Most of their players have done justice to their price tag. Among them, certain individuals took the team to its pinnacle and clearly defined the chants of “Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo Re”.

Here is the list of 5 best signings by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL history :

1. Gautam Gambhir

When Kolkata started their IPL journey it was a bumpy ride as they failed to reach the knock-out stages in the first three editions. So the franchise decided of a complete makeover before the 4th season. For starters, they bagged Gautam Gambhir for a whopping 10.4 crores in the 2011 IPL auction. As it turned out he became the most valuable commodity of their IPL history.

The southpaw led the Purple team for 7 consecutive seasons including two title-winning campaigns. He helped the team reach playoffs for a record 5 times in his tenure. He enjoyed an elusive captaincy record with a 55% win rate which made him one of the most successful leaders in the history of the tournament. Gautam will always be remembered for his pro-active captaincy as he always surprised the opposition with his bold tactics.

Even with his batting, he led the team from the front as he opened the innings and provided brisk starts. He scored more than 3000 runs in his stay with the Knight Riders. Gambhir is an absolute match-winner as his best season with the bat, 590 runs allowed the team to lift the trophy in 2012. His 28 half-centuries for the Kolkata team usually resulted in wins. Above all, he showed that a team can win championships even without a star-studded line-up.