After not doing well in the first three seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2010, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) made big changes. They needed better bowling, so they got some good bowlers.
They got players like Brett Lee, Lakshmipathya Balaji, Shakib Al Hasan, and Jacques Kallis to improve their bowling. In 2012, they got Sunil Narine from West Indies, who helped them win the IPL twice.
In 2024, KKR focused on improving their bowling again. They spent a lot of money, about 24.75 crore rupees, to sign up Mitchell Starc, a fast bowler from Australia. KKR’s management hopes Starc will do well. The 2024 IPL is starting soon, and KKR fans can look back at some of their team’s best bowling performances in the league with this article.
Here’s the list of KKR’s 5 best bowling performances in IPL history:
5. Sunil Narine’s 4/15 against Mumbai Indians, 2014
Sunil Narine started playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2012. He played for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team and helped them win their first-ever title. Narine took 24 wickets in 15 matches, which made him the second-best wicket-taker in the tournament.
One of his standout games was against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the famous Wankhede Stadium. KKR had a low score of 140, but Narine took four wickets, including those of key MI players like Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, and Rohit Sharma.
When MI seemed to be comfortably reaching the target, Narine dismissed Tendulkar, which changed the game’s momentum. After that, MI struggled and got all out for 108 runs. KKR won by 32 runs, and Narine was named the Player of the Match for his bowling figures of 4/15.
4. Andre Russell’s 4/5 against Gujarat Titans, 2022
In 2022, when KKR played against Gujarat Titans (GT) for the first time, GT won by eight runs. However, KKR’s player Andre Russell did really well in bowling. GT batted first after winning the coin toss. They lost one player, Shubman Gill, early in the game. But their captain Hardik Pandya played well with Wriddhiman Saha and helped stabilize the team’s score.
In the last over of GT’s batting turn, Russell, who played for KKR, did an excellent job. He managed to get two GT players out in the first two balls. Although he couldn’t get three players out in a row (which is called a hat-trick), he became the first player in the IPL to get four wickets in one over. He got out Rahul Tewatia and Yash Dayal from GT.
3. Shoaib Akhtar’s 4/11 against Delhi Capitals, 2008
Shoaib Akhtar, a former cricket player from Pakistan, played for Kolkata Knight Riders in the first IPL season in 2008. In his first match against Delhi Capitals, he played at Eden Gardens stadium. He bowled really well and helped KKR win by 23 runs.
KKR only had a small score to defend, just 133 runs. But Akhtar bowled brilliantly. He got four important players out: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, AB de Villiers, and Manoj Tiwary. Except for Gambhir, none of them scored more than 10 runs. Akhtar’s bowling performance, taking 4 wickets for just 11 runs, earned him the Player of the Match award.
2. Umesh Yadav’s 3/13 against Punjab Kings, 2014
Umesh Yadav did a great job for KKR in 2014. He played a big role in their win. In a crucial match against Punjab Kings, he bowled really well. He only gave away a few runs and took important wickets. Because of him, KKR won the match by 28 runs. Umesh took three wickets, including big players like Virender Sehwag and Glenn Maxwell. He was chosen as the best player of the match because of his excellent bowling.
1. Sunil Narine’s 4/21 against Royal Challengers Bangalore, 2021
Sunil Narine is really good at helping Kolkata Knight Riders win matches. He’s been playing for them for 12 years. In a game in 2021 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), he played amazingly well and was named the best player of the match.
The game took place in Sharjah Cricket Stadium, a beautiful place. RCB’s captain, Virat Kohli, decided to bat first after winning the coin toss. RCB started scoring quickly, reaching 49 runs in the first five overs. But then, on the very first ball of the sixth over, Lockie Ferguson, a player from New Zealand playing for KKR, got a wicket, sending Devdutt Padikkal from RCB back to the dressing room.
Narine then kept taking important wickets for KKR. He got out Srikar Bharat, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Glenn Maxwell from RCB. Because of his fantastic bowling, RCB could only score 138 runs. But Narine wasn’t done yet. In the second half of the game, when KKR was batting, he also did great with the bat, scoring 26 runs in just 15 balls. Thanks to his efforts, KKR won the game by four wickets.
READ MORE: Top 5 Bowling Performances of RCB In IPL
