# 2018 Kolkata Knight Riders season

The 2018 season was the 11th season for the Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Dinesh Karthik captained the team for the season. The KKR finished the season in the third place.

## Squad

* Players with international caps are listed in bold.
| No. | Name | Nationality | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Year signed | Salary | Notes |
| Batsmen |||||||||
| 3 | Rinku Singh | India | (1997-10-12) 12 October 1997 (age 26) | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | 2018 | ₹80 lakh (US$96,000) | |
| 27 | Nitish Rana | India | (1993-12-27) 27 December 1993 (age 30) | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | 2018 | ₹3.4 crore (US$407,000) | |
| 37 | Robin Uthappa | India | (1985-09-11) 11 September 1985 (age 39) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2018 | ₹6.4 crore (US$767,000) | Vice-captain |
| 50 | Chris Lynn | Australia | (1990-04-10) 10 April 1990 (age 34) | Right-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | 2018 | ₹9.6 crore (US$1.2 million) | Overseas |
| 77 | Shubman Gill | India | (1999-09-08) 8 September 1999 (age 25) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2018 | ₹1.8 crore (US$216,000) | |
| 99 | Ishank Jaggi | India | (1989-01-27) 27 January 1989 (age 35) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2018 | ₹20 lakh (US$24,000) | |
| 24 | Cameron Delport | South Africa | (1989-05-12) 12 May 1989 (age 35) | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | 2018 | ₹30 lakh (US$36,000) | Overseas |
| All-rounders |||||||||
| 12 | Andre Russell | Jamaica | (1988-04-29) 29 April 1988 (age 36) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | 2018 | ₹7 crore (US$838,732.40) | Overseas |
| 74 | Sunil Narine | Trinidad and Tobago | (1988-05-26) 26 May 1988 (age 36) | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | 2018 | ₹8.5 crore (US$1.0 million) | Overseas |
| 86 | Javon Searles | Barbados | (1986-12-21) 21 December 1986 (age 37) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | 2018 | date₹30 lakh (US$36,000) | Overseas |
| Wicket-keepers |||||||||
| 19 | Dinesh Karthik | India | (1985-06-01) 1 June 1985 (age 39) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2018 | ₹7.4 crore (US$886,659.90) | Captain |
| Bowlers |||||||||
| 21 | Piyush Chawla | India | (1988-12-24) 24 December 1988 (age 35) | Left-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2018 | ₹4.2 crore (US$503,000) | |
| 23 | Kuldeep Yadav | India | (1994-12-14) 14 December 1994 (age 29) | Left-handed | Slow left-arm wrist-spin | 2018 | ₹5.8 crore (US$695,000) | |
| 33 | Vinay Kumar | India | (1984-02-12) 12 February 1984 (age 40) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | 2018 | ₹1 crore (US$120,000) | |
| 43 | Prasidh Krishna | India | (1996-02-19) 19 February 1996 (age 28) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | 2018 | ₹20 lakh (US$24,000) | |
| 14 | Mitchell Starc | Australia | (1990-01-30) 30 January 1990 (age 34) | Left-handed | Left-arm fast | 2018 | ₹9.4 crore (US$1.1 million) | Overseas |

## Season
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR | |
| 1 | Chennai Super Kings (C) | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 18 | 0.253 | Advanced to Qualifier 1 |
| 2 | Sunrisers Hyderabad (2) | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 18 | 0.284 | Advanced to Qualifier 1 |
| 3 | Kolkata Knight Riders (3) | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 16 | −0.070 | Advanced to the Eliminator |
| 4 | Rajasthan Royals (4) | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 | −0.250 | Advanced to the Eliminator |
| 5 | Mumbai Indians | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 0.317 | |
| 6 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 0.129 | |
| 7 | Kings XI Punjab | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 12 | −0.502 | |
| 8 | Delhi Daredevils | 14 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 10 | −0.222 | |

### Results
#### League matches

* 8 April 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Royal Challengers Bangalore 176/7 (20 overs) | v | Kolkata Knight Riders (H) 177/6 (18.5 overs) |
| AB de Villiers 44 (23) Nitish Rana 2/11 (1 over) | | Sunil Narine 50 (19) Chris Woakes 3/36 (4 overs) |
* Kolkata Knight Riders won by 4 wickets Eden Gardens, Kolkata Umpires: Abhijit Deshmukh (India) and Chettithody Shamshuddin (India) Player of the match: Sunil Narine (Kolkata Knight Riders)
* Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
* Brendon McCullum (Royal Challengers Bangalore) scored his 9,000th T20 run.
* 10 April 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Kolkata Knight Riders 202/6 (20 overs) | v | Chennai Super Kings (H) 205/5 (19.5 overs) |
| Andre Russell 88* (36) Shane Watson 2/39 (4 overs) | | Sam Billings 56 (23) Tom Curran 2/39 (3 overs) |
* Chennai Super Kings won by 5 wickets M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (India) and Chris Gaffaney (New Zealand) Player of the match: Sam Billings (Chennai Super Kings)
* Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.
* 14 April 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| (H) Kolkata Knight Riders 138/8 (20 overs) | v | Sunrisers Hyderabad 139/5 (19 overs) |
| Chris Lynn 49 (34) Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/26 (4 overs) | | Kane Williamson 50 (44) Sunil Narine 2/17 (4 overs) |
* Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 5 wickets Eden Gardens, Kolkata Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (India) and Nand Kishore (India) Player of the match: Billy Stanlake (Sunrisers Hyderabad)
* Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and elected to field.
* Shivam Mavi and Shubman Gill (both Kolkata Knight Riders) made their T20 debuts.
* 16 April 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| (H) Kolkata Knight Riders 200/9 (20 overs) | v | Delhi Daredevils 129 (14.2 overs) |
| Nitish Rana 59 (35) Rahul Tewatia 3/18 (3 overs) | | Glenn Maxwell 47 (22) Sunil Narine 3/18 (3 overs) |
* Kolkata Knight Riders won by 71 runs Eden Gardens, Kolkata Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (India) and Nand Kishore (India) Player of the match: Nitish Rana (Kolkata Knight Riders)
* Delhi Daredevils won the toss and elected to field.
* 18 April 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| (H) Rajasthan Royals 160/8 (20 overs) | v | Kolkata Knight Riders 163/3 (18.5 overs) |
| D'Arcy Short 44 (43) Nitish Rana 2/11 (2 overs) | | Robin Uthappa 48 (36) Krishnappa Gowtham 2/23 (4 overs) |
* Kolkata Knight Riders won by 7 wickets Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur Umpires: Abhijit Deshmukh (India) and Sundaram Ravi (India) Player of the match: Nitish Rana (Kolkata Knight Riders)
* Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
* 21 April 16:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| (H) Kolkata Knight Riders 191/7 (20 overs) | v | Kings XI Punjab 126/1 (11.1 overs) |
| Chris Lynn 74 (41) Andrew Tye 2/30 (4 overs) | | Chris Gayle 62* (38) Sunil Narine 1/23 (3 overs) |
* Kings XI Punjab won by 9 wickets (DLS method) Eden Gardens, Kolkata Umpires: Abhijit Deshmukh (India)
* and Chettithody Shamshuddin (India) Player of the match: K. L. Rahul (Kings XI Punjab)
* Kings XI Punjab won the toss and elected to field.
* Rain interrupted play after 8.2 overs of the Kings XI Punjab innings and the target was revised to 125 runs from 13 overs.
* 27 April 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| (H) Delhi Daredevils 219/4 (20 overs) | v | Kolkata Knight Riders 164/9 (20 overs) |
| Shreyas Iyer 93* (40) Andre Russell 1/28 (3 overs) | | Andre Russell 44 (30) Glenn Maxwell 2/22 (2 overs) |
* Delhi Daredevils won by 55 runs Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi Umpires: Sundaram Ravi (India) and Chettithody Shamshuddin (india) Player of the match: Shreyas Iyer (Delhi Daredevils)
* Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
* 29 April 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| (H) Royal Challengers Bangalore 175/4 (20 overs) | v | Kolkata Knight Riders 176/4 (19.1 overs) |
| Virat Kohli 68* (44) Andre Russell 3/31 (3 overs) | | Chris Lynn 62* (52) Murugan Ashwin 2/36 (4 overs) |
* Kolkata Knight Riders won by 6 wickets M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (India) and Nigel Llong (England) Player of the match: Chris Lynn (Kolkata Knight Riders)
* Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
* 3 May 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Chennai Super Kings 177/5 (20 overs) | v | Kolkata Knight Riders (H) 180/4 (17.4 overs) |
| MS Dhoni 43* (25) Sunil Narine 2/20 (4 overs) | | Shubman Gill 57* (36) Harbhajan Singh 1/20 (3 overs) |
* Kolkata Knight Riders won by 6 wickets Eden Gardens, Kolkata Umpires: Abhijit Deshmukh (India) and Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) Player of the match: Sunil Narine (Kolkata Knight Riders)
* Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
* 6 May 16:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| (H) Mumbai Indians 181/4 (20 overs) | v | Kolkata Knight Riders 168/6 (20 overs) |
| Suryakumar Yadav 59 (39) Andre Russell 2/12 (2 overs) | | Robin Uthappa 54 (35) Hardik Pandya 2/19 (4 overs) |
* Mumbai Indians won by 13 runs Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Umpires: Abhijit Deshmukh (India) and Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) Player of the match: Hardik Pandya (Mumbai Indians)
* Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
* 9 May 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Mumbai Indians 210/6 (20 overs) | v | Kolkata Knight Riders (H) 108 (18.1 overs) |
| Ishan Kishan 62 (21) Piyush Chawla 3/48 (4 overs) | | Chris Lynn 21 (15) Krunal Pandya 2/12 (3.1 overs) |
* Mumbai Indians won by 102 runs Eden Gardens, Kolkata Umpires: K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan (India) and Anil Chaudhary (India) Player of the match: Ishan Kishan (Mumbai Indians)
* Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
* 12 May 16:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Kolkata Knight Riders 245/6 (20 overs) | v | Kings XI Punjab (H) 214/8 (20 overs) |
| Sunil Narine 75 (36) Andrew Tye 4/41 (4 overs) | | K. L. Rahul 66 (29) Andre Russell 3/41 (4 overs) |
* Kolkata Knight Riders won by 31 runs Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore Umpires: C. K. Nandan (India) and Virender Sharma (India) Player of the match: Sunil Narine (Kolkata Knight Riders)
* Kings XI Punjab won the toss and elected to field.
* 15 May 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Rajasthan Royals 142 (19 overs) | v | Kolkata Knight Riders (H) 145/4 (18 overs) |
| Jos Buttler 39 (22) Kuldeep Yadav 4/20 (4 overs) | | Chris Lynn 45 (42) Ben Stokes 3/15 (4 overs) |
* Kolkata Knight Riders won by 6 wickets Eden Gardens, Kolkata Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (India) and Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) Player of the match: Kuldeep Yadav (Kolkata Knight Riders)
* Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
* 19 May 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| (H) Sunrisers Hyderabad 172/9 (20 overs) | v | Kolkata Knight Riders 173/5 (19.4 overs) |
| Shikhar Dhawan 50 (39) Prasidh Krishna 4/30 (4 overs) | | Chris Lynn 55 (43) Carlos Brathwaite 2/21 (2.4 overs) |
* Kolkata Knight Riders won by 5 wickets Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (India) and Sundaram Ravi (India) Player of the match: Chris Lynn (Kolkata Knight Riders)
* Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and elected to bat.
* Kolkata Knight Riders qualified for the playoffs as a result of this match.

## Statistics
### Most runs

| Name | Matches | Inns | Runs | HS | Avg | SR |
| Dinesh Karthik | 16 | 16 | 498 | 52 | 49.80 | 147.77 |
| Chris Lynn | 16 | 16 | 491 | 74 | 32.73 | 130.23 |
| Sunil Narine | 16 | 16 | 357 | 75 | 22.31 | 189.89 |
| Robin Uthappa | 16 | 16 | 351 | 54 | 21.93 | 132.45 |
| Andre Russell | 16 | 16 | 316 | 88* | 28.72 | 184.79 |
* Source: ESPNcricinfo

### Most wickets

| Name | Matches | Wkts | BBI | Ave | Eco |
| Kuldeep Yadav | 16 | 17 | 4/20 | 24.58 | 8.14 |
| Sunil Narine | 16 | 17 | 3/18 | 27.47 | 7.65 |
| Piyush Chawla | 15 | 14 | 3/48 | 29.42 | 8.40 |
| Andre Russell | 16 | 13 | 3/31 | 27.30 | 9.38 |
| Prasidh Krishna | 7 | 10 | 4/30 | 26.00 | 9.28 |
* Source: ESPNcricinfo