IPL: The first ever happenings of Kolkata Knight Riders in the league

The Indian Premier League (IPL) will be in debt to the Kolkata Knight Riders who began the league in style thanks to a record ton from Brendon McCullum. Interestingly, the ton by McCullum remains as the only IPL ton for the KKR team despite 12 years since his famous knock. KKR stands among the top most successful teams having won two titles. The fortunes of KKR turned when Gautam Gambhir took up the captaincy in 2011. Under him, KKR won both their IPL titles and also made it to the playoffs/knockouts regularly.

Here we look the happenings of the Kolkata Knight Riders for the first time in the history of IPL:

First ball:

Sourav Ganguly faced the first ball of the first-ever IPL game in the bowling of Praveen Kumar. (Over 0.1 – Inns No.1 vs RCB in Bangalore on April 18, 2008)

First run and four:

Brendon McCullum struck a four on the 2nd ball of the second over. It came in the bowling of Zaheer Khan. KKR earned three runs in the first over of the game but all through extras. (Over 1.2 – Inns No.1 vs RCB in Bangalore on April 18, 2008)

First six:

Later, in the same over, Brendon McCullum smashed Zaheer Khan on the 5th ball for a six; the first-ever maximum of IPL. (Over 1.5 – Inns No.1 vs RCB in Bangalore on April 18, 2008)

First wicket:

The first wicket picked by KKR in the IPL was Rahul Dravid who was cleaned up in the bowling of Ishant Sharma. (Over 1.1 – Inns No.2 vs RCB in Bangalore on April 18, 2008)

First catch:

Murali Kartik, fielding at mid-on, took the first catch for KKR when Jacques Kallis hit one straight to him in the bowling of Ajit Agarkar. (Over 4.5 – Inns No.2 vs RCB in Bangalore on April 18, 2008)

First stumping:

Wriddhiman Saha affected KKR’s first stumping in the IPL during the 2008 season match against KKR. Yuvraj Singh was the batsman while Mohammad Hafeez was the bowler. (Over 8.6 – Inns No.1 vs KXIP in Mohali on May 3, 2008)

First run out:

Ajit Agarkar and the wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha together affected the first runout of the IPL when they dismissed Ashley Noffke. (Over 11.1 – Inns No.2 vs RCB in Bangalore on April 18, 2008)

First maiden over:

Ishant Sharma bowled the first maiden over of the IPL by a KKR bowler in the match against Deccan Chargers in 2008. Y Venugopal Rao was dismissed on the 4th over’s 2nd ball while VVS Laxman played out the remaining balls in that over. (4th Over – Inns No.1 vs DC in Kolkata on April 20, 2008)

First 50, 100 and 150:

Brendon McCullum ended up with an unbeaten 158 in just 73 balls in IPL’s inaugural game. It was the first fifty, century and also the 150 not only for the KKR, but also in the history of the league. (vs RCB in Bangalore on April 18, 2008)

First 5-wicket haul:

Sunil Narine recorded figures of 4-0-19-5 during the 2012 season match against Kings XI Punjab which was the first-ever IPL 5-fer for the KKR team. (vs KXIP in Kolkata on April 15, 2012)

First hat-trick:

Sunil Narine took KKR’s first hat-trick in the IPL when he got the wicket of David Hussey, Azhar Mahmood and Gurkeerat Mann in successive balls. (15th Over – Inns No.1 vs KXIP in Mohali on April 16, 2012)

First win:

KKR won their debut IPL match by 140 runs against RCB. (in Bangalore on April 18, 2008)

First final and title:

Kolkata Knight Riders first qualified to the final in the 2012 season where they defeated the Chennai Super Kings by 5 wickets to clinch their maiden title. (in Chennai on May 27, 2012)