You take a walk around the streets of Kolkata or drive by the narrow lanes; there are banners, hoardings, wall posters all donning a look of purple with the stars of Kolkata Knight Riders on it. You are reminded time and again that this is the home of the Kolkata Knight Riders. “The fans and people of Kolkata are our biggest strength,” Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir said. “The amount of loyalty and emotions they have shown, especially after the first three years, they have stuck to us, believed in us having the same emotions; feeling sad when you lose, feeling happy when you win. We have the capacity to change the mood of the people and that's what we've been fortunate. Hopefully, we will be able to give them a lot of happiness and pride. This is our responsibility that God has blessed us with. We can actually make the people of Kolkata happy by playing cricket.” The Eden gardens is like second home for the men in purple; they know the conditions, they pick a side according to it and play to their strengths. Gambhir believed the side was in good spirits and was looking forward to putting a good show in the tournament. “Everyone is excited and looking forward to a good start,” Gambhir said, on the eve of the side’s first game against the Delhi Daredevils. “I always believed if you can get off to a good start, it takes a lot of pressure off you. This is what we have realised last year as well. We were at the top after 12 games, and suddenly we slipped to number five. Hopefully, we start off well and continue that into the entire tournament.” KKR are perennially known to bank a lot on home advantage, are also looking to better their away record this time around. “We need to play good cricket. We did not have a great away record last year and we played well at home. Hopefully we can rectify that this time. To be a successful team you have to play well both at home and away. Hope we will do well at both places.” Also, a spark of good news for the Knights is that Sunil Narine’s remodelled action has been cleared by the ICC though Gambhir later confirmed that the spinner would not be a part of the eleven against the Daredevils. Narine, so crucial to KKR’s fortunes and instrumental in their success over the years, will continue to be the pivot in the team’s bowling plans. Gambhir added the best of Narine would be seen in this year’s IPL. “Narine is not available for the first game; he's only available from the second game. I feel that he will be far more confident this year than last year. He has worked on his action; he's got the monkey off his back. He can go into the game with freedom knowing that everything is sorted. I think you will see the best of him this year around.”