2019 Kolkata Knight Riders season

The 2019 season was the 12th season for the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders. They were one of the eight teams that competed in the 2019 IPL. They finished the season in the fifth place. The team was captained by Dinesh Karthik and coached by Jacques Henry Kallis with Simon Matthew Katich as assistant coach, Omkar Salvia as bowling coach and Abhishek Mohan Nair as mentor

Background

Player retention and auction

In November 2018, the Knight Riders announced their list of retained players for the 2019 season. The list included Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shubman Gill, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti.

On 18 December 2018, the IPL player auction was held in which the Knight Riders signed up nine more players viz., Carlos Brathwaite, Lockie Ferguson, Joe Denly, Harry Gurney, Nikhil Naik, Shrikant Mundhe, Prithvi Raj Yarra and Anrich Nortje.

Team analysis

ESPNcricinfo's Sreshth Shah predicted the Knight Riders to qualify for the playoffs and listed the team's strengths to be its "power-hitters", Dinesh Karthik's role as captain and finisher, and its spin bowlers' effectiveness. He also pointed out that the team has an "inexperienced pace attack" which had taken the fewest wickets and had the worst economy rate among all teams in the previous season. Hindustan Times wrote in its team preview that "anything less than play-offs will be seen as a failure" for the Knight Riders while also saying that winning the title in 2019 "may just be a step too far" for the team. Firstpost called Andre Russell the "fulcrum of the side" and acknowledged the "variety and depth in the squad." Suggesting the strength of the team to be its spin bowling department, News18 wrote "The variety the likes of Kuldeep Yadav, Sunil Narine and Piyush Chawla bring to the playing XI is unmatchable."