Greatest players in the history of IPL #3 - Gautam Gambhir

Not just the Kolkata Knight Riders, but also Gautam Gambhir discovered a new side in himself when he joined the Kolkata franchise in 2011. It was the dawn of a new era not just for the franchise, but also in IPL history. Amidst the CSKs and Mumbai Indians, a new fan-favorite team was in the making and later on attained sensational stardom.

His impeccable record as a captain speaks for itself and his role in Kolkata Knight Riders’ mind-boggling success over the last few years was crucial. An aggressive, gritty and an astute reader of the game, Gambhir’s talent as a captain was always overlooked with the presence of MS Dhoni at the helm. But when he got the opportunity at KKR, he proved his worth big time.

His first three seasons at the Delhi Daredevils provided nothing memorable or effective. He scored just over a 1,000 runs for the Daredevils and was not retained by the franchise when there was a full-fledged auction in 2010. They tried to get him back through the auction, but the Kolkata Knight Riders paid a whopping 2.4 Million USD (Rs. 10.8 Crore) to get him on board.

“Purple” patch for the Knight Riders

After the end of the first three seasons, the Knight Riders were the only franchise who didn’t enter the playoffs even once. A wholesale list of changes was made to turn the tables around, from the logo to the jersey color and the entire team roster. The likes of Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Jacques Kallis joined the club and steered them to their first appearance in the playoffs in 2011.

But it was the 2012 season when the franchise from the North-east won the hearts of people. Although they didn’t have a star-studded team when compared to the likes of Mumbai or Chennai, they managed to win the title. They chased a whopping 191 runs in the final against Chennai Super Kings at the Chidambaram Stadium.

That title triumph had a huge impact in changing people’s perspective towards the club. It was also Gambhir’s career-best IPL performance with the bat, bagging 590 runs and gave solid starts at the top almost every time. His strike-rate for that season was above 140, which also happens to be his career best. Talk about leading the team from the front, this was one heck of an example.

The 2013 season was a forgettable one as they failed to live-up with the “Defending Champions” tag. People had written off their 2012 triumph as a passing cloud and the pressure was back on Gautam Gambhir. But the management decided to retain him before the full-fledged auction in 2014, which proved to be a master-stroke.

Despite a poor start in the UAE leg of the tournament, Gambhir’s Kolkata Knight Riders registered an 8-match winning streak to eventually lift the title. They managed to out-muscle, out-smart and annihilate everyone who came their way, including the Kings XI Punjab, who looked devastating that season. That season well and truly made them a force to reckon with and the club’s fanbase got a lot bigger and was on par with the likes of Mumbai and Chennai.

Gambhir was at the helm of that successful season, taking some very important and decisive steps. Allowing Robin Uthappa, the eventual Orange Cap winner, to open the batting was one of the masterstrokes. The way he utilized his resources earned him praises from all around the globe and was being touted an “IPL legend”.

After that season, Kolkata managed to enter the playoffs on two occasions in 2016 and 2017. Gambhir scored over 300 runs in all of the 8 seasons he was with the club and is one of the few batsmen with over 4,000 IPL runs. Of the many success stories we’ve witnessed in IPL, Gambhir and KKR’s meteoric rise is right at the top amongst the very best and glorious.