Two-time Indian Premier League champions, Kolkata Knight Riders will start their IPL 2018 campaign under a new captain Dinesh Karthik. Their first encounter is against Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on April 8.
Co-owned by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, KKR came into the 2018 auction, held earlier in January in Bengaluru, with a purse of Rs 59 crore. They ended up splurging the entire amount to buy 17 players in addition to the West Indian duo of Andre Russel and Sunil Narine whom they had retained.
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KKR would be hoping to start IPL 11 on a positive note with a win.
Here are some of the milestones KKR players can achieve in their first clash against RCB:
Sunil Narine (95 Wickets) – The bowling all-rounder from West Indies needs 5 more wickets to join elite cricketers in a 100-wicket club in the IPL.
Robin Uthappa (1806 Runs) – The hard-hitting opening batsman would become second highest run-scorer for KRR if he scores more than 87 runs in his first game against RCB. He will surpass Yusuf Pathan’s tally of 1893 runs. Former captain Gautam Gambhir is at No 1 with 3090 runs while playing for KKR.
Dinesh Karthik (2903 Runs) – The newly appointed captain needs just 2 more runs to surpass Yusuf Pathan’s 2904 in the list of must run scorers in IPL history.
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Dinesh Karthik (71 Sixes) – The wicket-keeper-batsman needs to hit just one more six to surpass Shikhar Dhawan’s tally of 71 sixes in IPL. If KKR’s captain manages to hit 7 sixes, then he’ll equal JP Duminy, Shaun Marsh and David Miller’s tally of 78 sixes in IPL.
Piyush Chawla (126 Wickets) – The leg-spinner is just 2 wickets away to surpass Harbhajan Singh’s 127 wickets tally, to be No 3 in the list of most wicket takers in IPL.
Mitchell Johnson (59 Wickets) – The Australian pacer requires 4 more wickets to equal Muttiah Muralitharan’s 63 Wickets stats in IPL.
Vinay Kumar (103 Wickets) – Indian pacer needs 4 more wickets to surpass Ashish Nehra (106), to be No 7 bowler in the most wicket takers list in IPL.
Vinay Kumar (33 catches) – KKR player needs to grab 2 more catches to surpass Virender Sehwag’s tall of 35.
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KKR’s Squad
Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Starc, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Singh Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, Ranganath Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searless, Apoorv Vijay Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi
