Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had trouble choosing the right captain for the team. This article contains information on all KKR IPL captains.
All Kolkata Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captains
Surav Ganguly (2008-2010)
Former Indian captain Rahul Dravid was the first captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders and managed the team in two seasons, 2008 and 2010.
Although Ganguly had the expiration of the management of India and had a decent file by doing so, he could not reproduce this in the Cricket T20.
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The lower performance than KKR part in the rapid edition forced the management to withdraw Ganguly as a captain for the coming season, held in South Africa.
Another disappointing season led Ganguly to be reinstated as KKR captain in 2010, but the move did not make a lot of difference when Kolkata Knight Riders finished in the lower half of the point table.
Surav led KKR in 27 IPL games and could not win 13, while the team faced the defeat in the 14 remaining games under Ganguly.
Brendon McCullum (2009)
The 2009 season was unusual for Kolkata Knight Riders in the sense that the team decided to bring the shared captain’s formula, where you had separate captains for the striker, the bowling and the field.
Although Brendon McCullum was the team’s official captain for this season, he had to take permission from various coaches who were positioned from different angles outside the playground.
The decision to do something innovative turned massively when Kolkata Knight Riders lost 10 of the 14 games they played this season.
Regarding the McCullum record as captain of Kolkata Knight Riders, he could only win three of the thirteen games he played as the team captain.
Gautam Gambhir (2011-2017)
The year 2011 came as a breath of fresh air for Kolkata Knight Riders while the owners decided to restructure the team and to cord to Gautam Gambir as captain, who had all the freedom to build the team from zero
Gambhir entered with a team that had a nice mixture of young people and atonement with Jacques Kallis with Gambir himself at the top of order and made smart shopping during the auction.
A couple of smart shopping included players like Manvinder Bisla and Sunil Narine, who both played a crucial role in the victory of Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012.
Gambhir managed the team until 2017 and added another trophy to the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders in 2014 after a sequence of nine consecutive victories.
The double awarded IPL captain, Gambhir, led Kolkata Knight Riders in 122 games and won 69 games, which results in a percentage of victory of more than 50%.
Jacques Kallis (2011)
The former South African versatile was the deputy of Gautam Gambir in the 2011 edition of the League and led Kolkata Knight Riders in two games and was able to record a victory in a match.
Dinesh Karthik (2018-2020)
Dinesh Karthik, the former Indian ticket office, Dinesh Karthik, who was an IPL companion, also played for Kolkata Knight Riders from 2018 to 2021, and was also a team captain in 2018 and 2019.
Karthik’s mandate as captain of Kolkata Knight Riders was a captain upside down, who started on a positive note while Kolkata Knight Riders reached the playoffs in 2018, but everything took place next season.
Karthik was unable to reproduce his performance in the following two seasons and decided to resign as KKR captain halfway from season IPL 2020. Karthik led KKR in 37 games and recorded 19 wins and 17 defeats.
Eoin Morgan (2020-2021)
Eoin Morgan, who had been part of Kolkata Knight Riders several times in the past, was appointed captain of the team in 2020 after Karthik decided to resign as captain of the team.
It was in 2021 that Kolkata Knight Riders, under Morgan, scripted a famous turnaround in the second phase of the tournament held in the United Emirates and reached the final.
Morgan won 11 of the 24 games in which he led KKR during his time as a player of the IPL.
Shreyas Iyer (2022-2024)
Shreyas Iyer is one of the two captains to lead KKR in an IPL title, having done it in 2024. Shreyas, which was recovered by Kolkata Knight Riders in 2022, capitalized on the team in two IPL seasons after missing the 16th edition due to an injury.
Iyer led KKR in 17 games and won 11 games, making a 58.62 victory percentage, which is the best among the captains of Kolkata Knight Riders with more than 20 games to their credit.
Nitish Rana (2023)
Nitish Rana took over as a team captain in the absence of Shreyas Iyer in 2023, but could not take the opportunity while KKR won six and lost eight games under his captain.
Ajinkya Rahane (2025)
Ajinkya Rahane, who was appointed team captain for the 2025 season, had a disappointing passage on the field while KKR did not defend the title with Rahane at the helm.
Kolkata Knight Riders managed to win only five of the 13 games that Rahane played as a team captain.