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Team Kolkata Introduction
The Kolkata team, one of the first eight teams to be a part of the Indian T20 League, has been among the more successful teams in the league’s history. The franchise has a rich history with captains ranging from Sourav Ganguly to Gautam Gambhir and World Cup-winning skipper Eoin Morgan. They were crowned as champions in 2012 and 2014 and reached the playoffs six times in all. They made it to the playoffs in three successive seasons from 2016 to 2018, but in the last two seasons failed to go past the group stages of the tournament, finishing just outside the top four on both occasions.
Kolkata Team Origin: Founded in 2008 and based in Kolkata, West Bengal.
Team Owners: Red Chillies Entertainment & Mehta Group
Team’s Last Year Glimpse: In 2020, Kolkata started off pretty ordinary, made a captaincy change mid-season with Dinesh Karthik relinquishing captaincy and Eoin Morgan stepping in as his replacement, but still finished just outside the top four to miss out on qualification. Notably, their biggest player, overseas star Andre Russell from West Indies, had a poor season. Dinesh Karthik, the skipper, also had a rough season, while youngsters Shubman Gill and Varun Chakravarthy had breakthrough seasons with bat and ball, respectively.
Where the team currently stands: After an underwhelming start to the India T20 Premier League 2021 season, Kolkata sits seventh, second-bottom, after seven matches with just two wins. They restart their campaign in September.
Team’s ex-captains: Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Brendon McCullum, Dinesh Karthik, Eoin Morgan (present).
Current Support Staff: Venky Mysore (CEO and managing director) Wayne Bentley (Team manager), Brendon McCullum (head coach), Abhishek Nayar (assistant coach), David Hussey (mentor), Kyle Mills (Bowling coach), Omkar Salvi (assistant bowling coach), Pravin Tambe (Spin bowling consultant), James Foster (Fielding coach), Kamlesh Jain (Physiotherapist), Chris Donaldson (Strength and conditioning coach), AR Srikkanth (Data and video analyst), Nathan Leamon (Strategic consultant).
Home Ground: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
List of all players in the team along with their nationality:
- Shubman Gill (India)
- Nitish Rana (India)
- Tim Seifert (New Zealand)
- Rahul Tripathi (India)
- Rinku Singh (India)
- Dinesh Karthik (India)
- Eoin Morgan (Ireland-origin turned England player)
- Andre Russell (West Indies)
- Sunil Narine (West Indies)
- Varun CV (India)
- Kuldeep Yadav (India)
- Pat Cummins (Australia)
- Lockie Ferguson (New Zealand)
- Kamlesh Nagarkoti (India)
- Shivam Mavi (India)
- Sandeep Warrier (India)
- Prasidh Krishna (India)
- Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh)
- Sheldon Jackson (India)
- Vaibhav Arora (India)
- Karun Nair (India)
- Harbhajan Singh (India)
- Ben Cutting (Australia)
- Venkatesh Iyer (India)
- Pawan Negi (India)
Top Auctioned Players of 2021
The Kolkata team has a fresh look for the upcoming season. They acquired some handy players at the 2021 Indian T20 League Auction in Chennai. They retained the major core of their players ahead of the Indian T20 League Retentions, while strengthening their team with smart buys in the auction.
- Shakib Al Hasan (All-Rounder) – Rs. 3.2 crore
- Harbhajan Singh (Bowler) – Rs. 2 crore
- Ben Cutting (All-Rounder) – Rs. 75 lakh
- Karun Nair (Batsman) – Rs. 50 lakh
- Pawan Negi (All-Rounder) – Rs. 50 lakh
- Venkatesh Iyer (All-Rounder) – Rs. 20 lakh
- Sheldon Jackson (Wicket-Keeper) – Rs. 20 lakh
- Vaibhav Arora (Bowler) – Rs. 20 lakh
Schedule
You can find all the updates about matches, predictions, dream teams, etc., on our blog.
| Day & Date | Match | City | Time (IST) |
| Sunday, 11 April | vs Hyderabad | Chennai | 7:30 PM |
| Tuesday, 13 April | vs Mumbai | Chennai | 7:30 PM |
| Sunday, 18 April | vs Bangalore | Mumbai | 3:30 PM |
| Wednesday, 21 April | vs Chennai | Mumbai | 7:30 PM |
| Saturday, 24 April | vs Rajasthan | Mumbai | 7:30 PM |
| Monday, 26 April | vs Punjab | Ahmedabad | 7:30 PM |
| Thursday, 29 April | vs Delhi | Ahmedabad | 7:30 PM |
| Monday, 20 September | vs Bangalore | Abu Dhabi | 7:30 PM |
| Thursday, 23 May | vs Mumbai | Abu Dhabi | 7:30 PM |
| Sunday, 26 September | vs Chennai | Au Dhabi | 3:30 PM |
| Tuesday, 28 September | vs Delhi | Sharjah | 3:30 PM |
| Friday, 1 October | vs Punjab | Dubai | 7:30 PM |
| Sunday, 3 October | vs Hyderabad | Dubai | 7:30 PM |
| Thursday, 7 October | vs Rajasthan | Sharjah | 7:30 PM |
Things to know & Facts about the Kolkata team
- The team made it to the play-offs six times and to the final twice.
- The team has never lost a final in the Indian T20 League.
- Australian Brad Hodge and Sri Lankan Ajantha Mendis were bought outside auction in 2008.
- Brendon McCullum made 158 in the opening match of the inaugural season, a hundred that remains the only one to date by a Kolkata player.
- Kolkata made the lowest total in Indian T20 League 2008 when they were bowled out for 67 by Mumbai.
- They won 10 consecutive matches between the 2014 and 2015 Indian T20 League seasons.
- In 2008, they beat Bangalore by 140 runs in the opening game, the biggest margin of victory in an Indian T20 League game for a long time.
- Their big all-rounder, Andre Russell, is the first player to take four wickets in four balls in T20 cricket.
- Russell is also one of the only two players to take a hat-trick and hit a century in the same T20 game, although these records were made for other franchises.
Past Indian T20 League Performance of the Kolkata Team
| Year | Performance |
| 2008 | Finished 6th |
| 2009 | Finished 8th |
| 2010 | Finished 6th |
| 2011 | Finished 4th in play-offs |
| 2012 | Champions |
| 2013 | Finished 7th |
| 2014 | Champions |
| 2015 | Finished 5th and failed to reach play-offs |
| 2016 | Finished 4th in play-offs |
| 2017 | Finished 3rd in play-offs |
| 2018 | Finished 3rd in play-offs |
| 2019 | Finished 5th and failed to reach play-offs |
| 2020 | Finished 5th and failed to reach play-offs |
How Kolkata team Stats can help you on MPL?
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Eoin Morgan is the present captain of the team.
The home ground of the team is the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
The team has 45 wins out of 76 matches on the home ground.
The team has won the Indian T20 Premier League twice – 2012 and 2014.
No player of the Kolkata team has won the Purple Cap in any season.
Robin Uthappa won the Orange Cap from this team in 2014.
