Kolkata Knight Riders in 2017  The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are a franchise cricket team based in Kolkata, India, which plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). They are one of the eight teams that are competing in the 2017 Indian Premier League. They are being be captained by Dinesh Karthik for the 2018 season of IPL, while former Knight Riders all-rounder Jacques Kallis is in his third season as the team's head coach. The players auction for the 2017 Indian Premier League was originally scheduled to be held in Bangalore on 4 February 2017, but was pushed forward by at least two weeks due to the BCCI–Lodha committee stand-off. On 3 February, the BCCI announced that the auction will be held on 20 February in Bangalore and that a total of 799 players have signed up for it. On 14 February, the IPL Desk released a list of 351 players. The Knight Riders bought the following players at the auction:  In April 2017, the Knight Riders also signed up New Zealander Colin de Grandhomme as a replacement for Andre Russell who was banned for one year in January 2017 for violation of doping code.