Kolkata Knight Riders IPL 2025 Retentions: List Of Players Retained And Released

IPL 2024 champions Kolkata Knight Riders have announced their retentions for the upcoming mega auctions. KKR put an end to rumours, keeping hold of star West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell. However, IPL 2024-winning captain Shreyas Iyer was not retained by KKR. As per BCCI's rule, all the ten franchises were asked to submit the final list of their retained players by Thursday, October 31. KKR are one of only two franchises who have retained all six players before the mega auction, meaning they will have no Right to Match (RTM) cards.

KKR CEO Venky Mysore emphasised after the retentions announcement that the procedure is not a "one-way" process, hinting that the decision to part ways with Shreyas Iyer may have been one taken by the player himself.

Having created a star-studded side en route to a dominant IPL 2024 title, retaining a maximum of six players was always going to be a difficult task for the Knight Riders.

Overseas stars Phil Salt and Mitchell Starc have been let go, while Indian regulars Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana and Vaibhav Arora have also not been retained.

KKR managed to retain their six players for a combined total of only Rs 57 crore. However, Rs 69 crore will be deducted from their auction budget, as that is the designated amount for four capped retentions and two uncapped retentions (18 + 14 + 11 + 18 + 4 + 4 = 69).

This leaves KKR with an auction purse of Rs 51 cr, having already sealed six players from their title-winning squad.

Pacer Harshit Rana and all-rounder Ramandeep Singh, both of whom could make their India debuts in November, have been retained as uncapped players. 

PLAYERS RETAINED:

1. Rinku Singh (Rs 13 cr)

2. Varun Chakravarthhy (Rs 12 cr)

3. Sunil Narine (Rs 12 cr)

4. Andre Russell (Rs 12 cr)

5. Harshit Rana (Rs 4 cr - uncapped)

6. Ramandeep Singh (Rs 4 cr - uncapped)

AUCTION BUDGET: Rs 51 cr

RTMs available: 0

Players released: Nitish Rana, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer, Jason Roy, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Vaibhav Arora, KS Bharat, Chetan Sakariya, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Gus Atkinson, Sakib Hussain.

Topics mentioned in this article

Kolkata Knight Riders Andre Russell Sunil Narine Shreyas Iyer Rinku Singh Phil Salt Ramandeep Singh Nitish Rana Harshit Rana IPL 2025 Cricket