IPL: 5 players who performed consistently after leaving Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

Franchise cricket is way different from national or domestic cricket. Here, money plays a crucial role on the players sometimes. The players get too burdened if they are bought for an expensive amount as they carry the pressure of price tag throughout the tournament. Like the passion to play for their country, they need to bring the connection with the franchises.

Kolkata Knight Riders have been the 3rd most successful franchise in the Indian Premier League with two trophies in 2012 and 2014. There have been many players who have turned out to be their core star players, but some players haven’t performed well for this team.

It all depends on the form of the players and also the strategies of the teams, support staff, and the atmosphere that the franchise offers. Here is the list of players who represented KKR, and couldn’t do well for their team but have performed well after switching to another franchise.

Players who performed well in IPL after having a dismal run in KKR

1. Chris Gayle

Christopher Henry Gayle, the frontrunner of this format, debuted in the second edition of the IPL for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2009. He represented the team for two seasons till 2010. He played seven matches in his first season and scored 171 runs with an average of 28.50 and had the highest score of 44*. In 2010, he played 9 matches scoring 292 runs with an average of 32.44, and hit two fifties in the tournament.

The KKR franchise was not pleased with his performance and he was released for the auction in 2011. The player went unsold in the auction for a base price of $400,000 and was later roped into the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s squad in place of an injured Dirk Nannes which eventually became the turning point of the franchise and the latter is history and well known.

He hit 608 runs in 12 matches with an average of 67.55 which included two centuries and three half-centuries that year. He was also named as the Most Valuable Player in that season and his journey in the IPL has been fantabulous after 2011.

2. Suryakumar Yadav

Suryakumar Yadav the rising star of the Indian batting, started his IPL career with Mumbai Indians scoring a duck in his first and only match in that season. He was later signed by Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the 2014 auction and was used as a middle-order batter since then.

SKY played for the team for 4 consecutive seasons till 2017. He was made the vice-captain of the team and played regularly. He represented the team in 54 matches and scored 608 runs with an unexceptional average of 23.435 and just had one 50+ score for the team in all his purple appearances.

He was then not retained by the team ahead of the mega auction and returned to his home team Mumbai Indians in 2018. He has evolved as the constant number three batter for them and has performed anomalously well. He went on to score 512 runs in 2018’s IPL season which was his highest ever and his strike rates also ramped up when he played for MI.

3. Trent Boult

Trent Boult, the left-arm-fast-medium bowler, after being New Zealand’s highest wicket-taker in the 2015 ICC World Cup was offered a maiden IPL call to represent Sunrisers Hyderabad. After two seasons, he was listed in the auction.

KKR bought this bowler ahead of the 2017’s season for a whopping 5 crores. His injuries threatened him that season and his huge price tag was a big burden for him. He played just six matches that season and took 5 wickets with an economy of 9.06.

The southpaw was then bought by Delhi Capitals in 2018 and he grabbed 18 wickets in 14 matches with an economy of 8.84. In 2020, he was traded to Mumbai Indians and was very successful. He picked up 25 wickets in 15 matches and with a much-improved economy of 7.97 and was a key part of the title-winning team in 2020.

4. Jaydev Unadkat

Jaydev Unadkat the left-arm-fast-medium pacer has always been a visiting guest for the Kolkata Knight Riders. He debuted in the IPL playing for KKR in 2010. He didn’t get much of a chance to represent the Purple’s and warmed the bench most of the time.

In his first three seasons with KKR, he played only 11 matches and picked 10 wickets with an economy of 9.07. In 2013, he was signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore and in 13 matches, he took 13 wickets which included a fifer, and his economy improved to 7.55 that season.

He then came back again to his initial franchise KKR in 2016 and like a time loop, he just played once and was made to warm the bench for the rest of the season for his poor display of bowling, where he gave 49 runs in just 18 balls. When he was picked by the dissolved Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017, his fortunes changed as he grabbed 24 wickets in just playing 12 matches which included a hat trick.

5. Jason Holder

Jason Holder, the behemoth Barbadian all-rounder debuted in the IPL for Chennai Super Kings in 2013. On playing 6 matches, he just managed to take 2 wickets with an economy of 8.40. He was then bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad and went on to represent the team in 2014.

He just played a match in 2014 and picked a wicket giving away 35 runs in three overs and he hit 16 runs with his bat in that match. He didn’t play after that till 2016 when he was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for that season. He just played four matches and was given limited opportunities to represent KKR.

Holder just took 2 wickets and scored 22 runs in 4 matches after which he was released. He came back to the IPL in 2020 as a replacement for Mitchell Marsh in the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad and turned out to be their key player. On playing 7 and 8 matches in 2020 and 2021, he grabbed 14 ad 16 wickets respectively and was quite good with his bat too.