How KKR made it to IPL 2024 playoffs: Rewinding the highs and lows 

By most measures, this has been Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR)'s best IPL season since 2012, when Gautam Gambhir led them to their first-ever title.

Twenty points is their highest since then (although in 2012, each team played 16 matches unlike 14 this year), and it has come despite the last two games against Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals (RR) being washed out due to rain.

The number and style of away wins have been comparable to Gambhir's team and so has the impact of fringe, unexpected players. But even that side lost five games in the league stage. Shreyas Iyer's men have lost just three.

At the start of the season, they seemed at par with RR and just a bit ahead of SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH). However, as the business end came close, the difference between the teams became stark and the appreciation for KKR's consistency and the ability to never make silly mistakes grew rapidly.

It won't be too diabolical to say that the only thing they need to manage now is not playing any cricket in the last 10 days. If they can, they have all the quality and balance to lift the first title in 10 years. But how did they get here?

Below, we have a recap of every small milestone and twist this team saw in IPL 2024:

#1 A narrow win over SRH

KKR probably used all the twists and turns in their first game of the season, against now second-placed SRH in Hyderabad.

Batting first, KKR were quickly reduced to 51/4 inside eight overs. But new signings Phil Salt and Ramandeep Singh stood up to shift momentum until an Andre Russell masterclass of 64 (25) took them to 208. Remember, this was a time when 200+ was considered good.

SRH started with a 60-run opening stand which gave them cruise control of the game. But the visitors showed resilience again, and each one of their main bowlers apart from Mitchell Starc, picked up at least a wicket in the middle overs to pull things back. At 111/4, Heinrich Klaasen introduced himself to IPL 2024 with a belligerent 63 (29) with eight sixes that threatened to take the game home.

Overs 14-19 went for 81 runs and young Harshit had 13 to defend in the last over. He conceded a first-ball six but used his clutch variations to find two wickets, including of Klaasen to help KKR sneak in a win by four runs. In hindsight, considering how SRH have batted since, it was one of the most important wins for the franchise.

#2 Breaking the away jinx

The second and third wins, over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Delhi Capitals (DC) would have really started to make KKR believe. Before that, no team in the season had won a game away from home. Harshit and Russell shone with the ball again at Bengaluru and we saw Narine's magnificent return to opening.

Further two heroes emerged in Vizag, DC's temporary venue at the start of the season. So far, KKR were relying on cutters and spin to do the job after poor powerplay starts but Starc finally came to his own with wickets of his compatriots David Warner and Mitchell Marsh and Vaibhav Arora backed him with two more.

DC never really recovered from the early shock and KKR made it three in three.

#3 Massive loss to CSK

In IPL 2023, KKR's win at Chepauk was one of their few solaces in a difficult season.

IPL 2024 went the opposite way. KKR went to Chepauk with their best batting lineup in ages and started by scoring 56/1 in the powerplay. However, three wickets fell in as many overs as Ravindra Jadeja caught their aggression in his fist.

Tushar Deshpande and Mustafizur Rahman then easily cleaned up the rest for 137/9. It looked like a par score for the tricky track but batting got easier in the second half and CSK's top-order made full use of looseners from Starc and Anukul Roy in the powerplay, and some dropped catches to set up a seven-wicket win.

#4 An up-down home stretch

Their biggest loss of the season was followed by a comfortable five-home games stretch. However, they failed to make the best use of it, bringing back memories of the love-hate relationship with Eden and pitch controversies from 2023.

It started well, with a Phil Salt-special curtain-raising 89 finishing off a tired Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). Narine's magnificent hundred (which made him a contender for the Orange Cap) and two wickets weren't enough as RR sneaked in a two-wicket win thanks to a knock for the ages from Jos Buttler.

It was important for Iyer and company. to bounce back. They almost didn't as an inspired RCB took a 223-run chase to the last ball after Karn Sharma's heroics with the bat against some rubbish bowling from Starc. However, a bit of calmness, and some good captaincy to bowl out the better bowlers before that, led to a one-run win.

It worked because the wicket had something for Russell to come in the middle overs and take three crucial wickets. However, when KKR desperately needed a track that had something for the bowlers, Eden got flatter against the Punjab Kings. So flat that their 261/6, laced with contributions from everyone, was nowhere near enough. PBKS and Jonny Bairstow romped it down in 18.3 overs.

#5 The Varun Chakavarthy Redemption vs DC

In that match, the biggest questions were raised on the bowlers, especially Varun Chakaravarthy and Harshit, for not being incisive enough on flat tracks.

It wasn't wrong but in the next match, they showed levels to how good they could be with a bit of help from the wicket.

Starc and Vaibhav set it up with early wickets again but Harshit showed unbelievably skillful variations to pick up one wicket in the middle and one in the death overs, while Varun broke the DC middle-order by taking three at the cost of just 16 runs -- his best figures in a long time.

From there on, he hasn't looked back and now has an excellent chance of winning the Purple Cap. The biggest achievement for KKR from this game was not dropping both of them and trusting their previous performances. It has gone a long way in ensuring stability and consistency in performances.

#6 Famous win at MI

Whatever happens with the season, KKR's win at Wankhede would define this season and many others to come. It was just that special. They didn't have Harshit in the team after his ban for celebrating a wicket against DC, they hadn't won at this venue in 12 years and were facing their toughest opponent in the tournament.

To make matters worse, they lost five wickets for 57 in a typical top-order collapse. The management sent in the Impact Sub, Manish Pandey, tying their hands with just five bowlers for the second innings. Somehow, Venkatesh Iyer and Pandey trudged the team through to 169, overcoming a horrific Andre Russell run-out.

It looked far from KKR's day as dew pelted the fields and Ishan Kishan smashed Starc for early boundaries. However, the Aussie's much-anticipated comeback, bowling the left-hander, ignited the team up. Iyer brought in the spinners early to spin a web around the hosts, before Russell and, fittingly, Starc finished things off.

#7 Consolidating the top-spot

You could see what that game meant to KKR. And they showed it to their fans with the performances after that.

LSG were dispatched at their own home by a massive margin of 98 runs and MI were again kept down, this time in the final game at the Eden, for an 18-run win.

The wins ensured a top-two spot and RR's troubles made the first position possible for the first time ever in the franchise's history.