# 2023 Kolkata Knight Riders season

The 2023 cricket season was the 16th season for the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The franchise had won the IPL title twice in 2012 and 2014 . The franchise had also qualified for the playoffs for three consecutive years in 2016, 2017 and 2018 as well as in 2021, when they were the runners up. In 2023, KKR failed to qualify for the playoffs for the second season in a row, finishing in the seventh place.

## Background

The team retained four players from the 2022 season ahead of the 2023 Auction

### Retained

    Shreyas Iyer, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana

### Released

    Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Sam Billings, Aaron Finch, Alex Hales, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohammad Nabi, Sheldon Jackson, Ashok Sharma, Chamika Karunaratne, Abhijeet Tomar, Baba Indrajith, Pratham Singh, Ramesh Kumar, Rasikh Salam Dar

### Trade

    Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Rahmanullah Gurbaz

## Squad

* Players with international caps are listed in bold
* Ages given as of 31 March 2023, the date of the first match of the season
| No. | Name | Nationality | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Year signed | Salary | Notes |
| Batters |||||||||
| | Aarya Desai | India | (2003-04-03)3 April 2003 (aged 19) | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | 2023 | ₹20 lakh (US$23,000) | |
| 1 | Mandeep Singh | India | (1991-12-18)18 December 1991 (aged 31) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2023 | ₹50 lakh (US$57,000) | |
| 27 | Nitish Rana | India | (1993-12-27)27 December 1993 (aged 29) | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | 2018 | ₹8 crore (US$920,000) | Captain |
| 41 | Shreyas Iyer | India | (1994-12-06)6 December 1994 (aged 28) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2022 | ₹12.25 crore (US$1.4 million) | Unavailable due to back injury |
| 20 | Jason Roy | England | (1990-07-21)21 July 1990 (aged 32) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | 2023 | ₹2.8 crore (US$320,000) | Overseas Replacement of Shakib Al Hasan |
| 35 | Rinku Singh | India | (1997-10-12)12 October 1997 (aged 25) | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | 2018 | ₹55 lakh (US$63,000) | |
| Wicket-keepers |||||||||
| 16 | Litton Das | Bangladesh | (1994-10-13)13 October 1994 (aged 28) | Right-handed | | 2023 | ₹50 lakh (US$57,000) | Overseas Unavailable due to personal reason |
| 18 | Narayan Jagadeesan | India | (1995-12-24)24 December 1995 (aged 27) | Right-handed | | 2023 | ₹90 lakh (US$100,000) | |
| 21 | Rahmanullah Gurbaz | Afghanistan | (2001-11-28)28 November 2001 (aged 21) | Right-handed | | 2023 | ₹50 lakh (US$57,000) | Overseas Unavailable due to personal reason |
| | Johnson Charles | West Indies | (1989-01-14)14 January 1989 (aged 34) | Right-handed | Left-arm orthodox | 2023 | ₹50 lakh (US$57,000) | Overseas Replacement of Litton Das |
| All-rounders |||||||||
| 96 | David Wiese | Namibia | (1985-05-18)18 May 1985 (aged 37) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | 2023 | ₹1 crore (US$110,000) | Overseas |
| 75 | Shakib Al Hasan | Bangladesh | (1987-04-24)24 April 1987 (aged 35) | Left-handed | Left-arm orthodox | 2023 | ₹1.5 crore (US$170,000) | Overseas Unavailable due to personal reason |
| 12 | Andre Russell | West Indies | (1988-04-29)29 April 1988 (aged 34) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | 2014 | ₹12 crore (US$1.4 million) | Overseas |
| 54 | Shardul Thakur | India | (1991-10-16)16 October 1991 (aged 31) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2023 | ₹10.75 crore (US$1.2 million) | |
| 25 | Venkatesh Iyer | India | (1994-12-25)25 December 1994 (aged 28) | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | 2021 | ₹8 crore (US$920,000) | |
| 6 | Anukul Roy | India | (1998-11-30)30 November 1998 (aged 24) | Left-handed | Left-arm orthodox | 2022 | ₹20 lakh (US$23,000) | |
| Spin bowlers |||||||||
| 74 | Sunil Narine | West Indies | (1988-05-26)26 May 1988 (aged 34) | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | 2012 | ₹6 crore (US$690,000) | Overseas |
| 29 | Varun Chakravarthy | India | (1991-08-29)29 August 1991 (aged 31) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg spin | 2020 | ₹8 crore (US$920,000) | |
| 05 | Suyash Sharma | India | (2003-05-15)15 May 2003 (aged 19) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg spin | 2023 | ₹20 lakh (US$23,000) | |
| Pace bowlers |||||||||
| 19 | Umesh Yadav | India | (1987-10-25)25 October 1987 (aged 35) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | 2022 | ₹2 crore (US$230,000) | |
| 38 | Tim Southee | New Zealand | (1988-12-11)11 December 1988 (aged 34) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | 2021 | ₹1.5 crore (US$170,000) | Overseas |
| 69 | Lockie Ferguson | New Zealand | (1991-06-13)13 June 1991 (aged 31) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | 2023 | ₹10 crore (US$1.1 million) | Overseas |
| 136 | Kulwant Khejroliya | India | (1992-03-13)13 March 1992 (aged 31) | Left-handed | Left-arm medium-fast | 2023 | ₹20 lakh (US$23,000) | |
| 14 | Vaibhav Arora | India | (1997-12-14)14 December 1997 (aged 25) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | 2023 | ₹60 lakh (US$69,000) | |
| 22 | Harshit Rana | India | (2001-12-22)22 December 2001 (aged 21) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | 2023 | ₹20 lakh (US$23,000) | |
* Source: Kolkata Knight Riders

## Administration and support staff

| Position | Name |
| CEO and Managing Director | Venky Mysore |
| Team manager | Wayne Bentley |
| Head coach | Chandrakant Pandit |
| Assistant coach | Abhishek Nayar |
| Assistant coach | James Foster |
| Mentor | David Hussey |
| Bowling coach | Bharat Arun |
| Assistant bowling coach | Omkar Salvi |
| Fielding coach | Ryan ten Doeschate |
| Strength and conditioning coach | Chris Donaldson |
| Source:KKR Staff ||

## Points table

| Pos | Grp | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR | Qualification |
| 1 | B | Gujarat Titans (R) | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 0.809 | Advanced to Qualifier 1 |
| 2 | B | Chennai Super Kings (C) | 14 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 17 | 0.652 | Advanced to Qualifier 1 |
| 3 | A | Lucknow Super Giants (4th) | 14 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 17 | 0.284 | Advanced to Eliminator |
| 4 | A | Mumbai Indians (3rd) | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 16 | −0.044 | Advanced to Eliminator |
| 5 | A | Rajasthan Royals | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 0.148 | |
| 6 | B | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 0.135 | |
| 7 | A | Kolkata Knight Riders | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 12 | −0.239 | |
| 8 | B | Punjab Kings | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 12 | −0.304 | |
| 9 | A | Delhi Capitals | 14 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 10 | −0.808 | |
| 10 | B | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 14 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 8 | −0.590 | |
The four top-ranked teams will qualify for the Playoffs.
 Advance to Qualifier 1
 Advance to Eliminator

## Teams and standings
### Results by match

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| Teams | PBKS (A) | RCB (H) | GT (A) | SRH (H) | MI (A) | DC (A) | CSK (H) | RCB (A) | GT (H) | SRH (A) | PBKS (H) | RR (H) | CSK (A) | LSG (H) |
| Result | L | W | W | L | L | L | L | W | L | W | W | L | W | L |

## Statistics
### Most runs

| No. | Name | Matches | Runs | High score |
| 1 | Rinku Singh | 12 | 407 | 58 not out |
| 2 | Nitish Rana | 12 | 383 | 75 |
| 3 | Venkatesh Iyer | 11 | 314 | 104 |
| 4 | Jason Roy | 5 | 218 | 61 |
| 5 | Andre Russell | 11 | 208 | 42 |
| 6 | Rahmanullah Gurbaz | 8 | 198 | 81 |
| 7 | Shardul Thakur | 8 | 109 | 68 |
| 8 | Narayan Jagadeesan | 6 | 89 | 36 |
| 9 | David Wiese | 3 | 21 | 12 not out |
| 10 | Umesh Yadav | 8 | 19 | 6 not out |
| 11 | Anukul Roy | 3 | 17 | 13 not out |
| 12 | Mandeep Singh | 3 | 14 | 12 |
| 13 | Sunil Narine | 11 | 14 | 7 not out |
| 14 | Litton Das | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| 15 | Vaibhav Arora | 3 | 2 | 2 not out |
| 16 | Varun Chakravarthy | 11 | 1 | 1 |
* Source: https://www.iplt20.com/stats/

### Most wickets

| No. | Name | Matches | Wickets | Best bowling |
| 1 | Varun Chakravarthy | 11 | 17 | 4/15 |
| 2 | Suyash Sharma | 8 | 10 | 3/30 |
| 3 | Sunil Narine | 11 | 7 | 3/33 |
| 4 | Andre Russell | 11 | 7 | 3/22 |
| 5 | Harshit Rana | 3 | 4 | 2/33 |
| 6 | Shardul Thakur | 8 | 4 | 2/23 |
| 7 | Anukul Roy | 3 | 3 | 2/19 |
| 8 | Nitish Rana | 11 | 3 | 2/17 |
| 9 | Vaibhav Arora | 3 | 2 | 2/32 |
| 10 | Tim Southee | 2 | 2 | 2/54 |
| 11 | Kulwant Khejroliya | 2 | 2 | 2/44 |
| 12 | Umesh Yadav | 8 | 1 | 1/27 |
| 13 | Lockie Ferguson | 3 | 1 | 1/19 |
* Source: https://www.iplt20.com/stats/