Coach John Buchanan Ground(s) Eden Gardens, Kolkata CLT20 did not qualify | Captain Sourav Ganguly IPL last Most runs Brad Hodge (365) | |
The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is a franchise cricket team based in Kolkata, India, which plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). They were one of the eight teams that competed in the 2009 Indian Premier League. They were captained by Sourav Ganguly. Kolkata Knight Riders finished last in the IPL and did not qualify for the Champions League T20.
Contents
Background
The season is by far the worst in the history of the franchise. Kolkata Knight Riders finished at the bottom of the ranking table with three wins and ten losses including a string of nine successive defeats. KKR was among the least active franchises during the off season, with no player trades. However, the team signed Mohnish Parmar during the period and also re-signed Ajantha Mendis to a long term deal.
On 18 April 2009 a blog by an anonymous author claiming to be a member of the team surfaced on the web. The blog was controversial from the start, giving unflattering nicknames to players, coaches, and owners of KKR and other teams, telling sordid stories, and showing most of them in a very negative light. The blog rapidly became popular and created a lot of media frenzy. The blog worsened an already bad season for KKR, which lost most of their games, had controversies surrounding their coach, John Buchanan, and frequently changed captains, including Sourav Ganguly and Brendon McCullum based on a series of theories discussing "multiple-captains". In August 2010, Bangalore based marketing specialist Anupam Mukerji revealed himself to be the person behind the blog. He said he had "never met a cricketer in his life", and was just making up stories. He never expected it to become this big, he remarked, adding that the Fake Player ended up getting legitimized by the media frenzy. He was inspired by the popularity of a similar blog by Fake Steve Jobs, and the Richard Gere movie The Hoax.
KKR also set up a Talent Resource Development Wing (TRDW) in 2009 to spot local talent nationwide. This was based on BCCI's 2002–06 model which had discovered talents like MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina. The wing was headed by Makarand Wainganker, who had first initiated the TRDW concept for the KSCA. However, Wainganker eventually resigned after persistent disagreements with John Buchanan over team selection and Buchanan's "multiple captains" theory.
Despite the poor on field performance of the team and its struggle at the bottom of the points table, the Kolkata Knight Riders were ranked as the richest team in the tournament with a brand value of $42.1 million.
Season standings
Kolkata Knight Riders finished last in the league stage of IPL 2009.