After MI and CSK, it is Kolkata Knight Riders who have won the most titles in the Indian Premier League. They are among the oldest team that made their debut in the 2008 inaugural season of the league. It took them, three seasons to play their first playoffs in 2011. Then, they went on to win the IPL title twice in 2012 and 2014, respectively.
There have been seven players that have led the franchise in the tournament so far in 15 seasons. Shreyas Iyer is their current captain, who took charge of Eoin Morgan. However, Gautam Gambhir is the most successful KKR captain ever. And here we will look at the list of players to lead KKR in the IPL so far.
List of Captains for Kolkata Knight Riders
| Player | Span | Mts | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sourav Ganguly | 2008-2010 | 27 | 13 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 48.14 |
| Brendon McCullum | 2009-2009 | 13 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 26.92 |
| Gautam Gambhir | 2011-2017 | 122 | 69 | 51 | 1 | 1 | 57.43 |
| Jacques Kallis | 2011-2011 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Dinesh Karthik | 2018-2020 | 37 | 19 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 52.70 |
| Eoin Morgan | 2020-2021 | 24 | 11 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 47.91 |
| Shreyas Iyer* | 2022-2022 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 42.85 |
3. Sourav Ganguly (led in 27 games)
The former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly was the first ever captain to lead the Kolkata franchise in the league. He captained the team in the inaugural season in 2008. Although, KKR didn’t qualify for the top four Ganguly was the third-most capped captain for the team. He led KKR in a total of 27 games during his stint.
In his leadership, KKR won 13 games and lost 14 matches with a win percentage of 48.14. He played for the KKR for three seasons until the 2010 season. Ganguly played 40 games for them and scored 1031 runs at an average of 28.63 with a strike rate of 110.50. He also scored seven half-centuries with a best of 91.
2. Dinesh Karthik (led in 37 games)
Veteran Indian wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik has been part of the IPL since the very first season in 2008. Before joining KKR, Karthik represented Delhi, Punjab, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Gujarat franchises respectively. He joined the Kolkata setup in the 2018 season when the franchise invested INR 7.4 crore in him. He became the captain after Gambhir was released from the team in 2018.
DK led Kolkata in two seasons (2018 and 2019). Under his captaincy, they played 37 games, winning 19 of those and losing 17 while one game ended in a tie. DK was later released ahead of the 2022 season and he joined RCB. In his stint with KKR, Karthik played 61 games and scored 1143 runs at 28.57 and a strike rate of 140.41 with a high score of 97 not out. He also scored five half-centuries with them.
1. Gautam Gambhir (led KKR in 7 seasons)
When it comes to the most successful captains in the Indian Premier League, the former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir did make it to that list. Apart from MS Dhoni (CSK) and Rohit Sharma (MI), he is the only captain to lead an IPL franchise in multiple IPL wins. Gambhir joined KKR in 2011 when the franchise signed him for a price of INR 11.04 crore. He joined the team and was handed over the captaincy.
Under his captaincy, KKR made it to the playoffs in the first season. But then, Gambhir led KKR to their maiden IPL title in 2012 and repeated that success in 2014 to make it twice. He led the franchise for a total of seven seasons between 2011 and 2017. He was released in the 2018 season. But to date, KKR hasn’t found a captain like him. Under him, Kolkata won 69 games out of 122 matches and 51 defeats with one tie and one no-result. Gambhir is the leading run-scorer for KKR with 3345 runs in 121 innings.