KKR’s IPL 2026 Retention: The 3-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders made some stunning and shocking moves in the recent IPL 2026 Retention. The franchise has released 9 players, including star players like Andre Russell and Venkatesh Iyer.
Consequently, KKR will now have a large purse of Rs 64.3 crore in the mini-auction which will be most by a team for the upcoming auction. This gives the team the opportunity to acquire several stars.
So, KKR have finalized their IPL 2026 retention list, keeping key players like Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, and Manish Pandey. Meanwhile, big names including Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Quinton de Kock, and Moeen Ali have been released or traded, signaling a major squad overhaul ahead of the upcoming season.
| Retained Players | Released / Traded Out Players |
|---|---|
| Rinku Singh | Luvnith Sisodia |
| Angkrish Raghuvanshi | Quinton de Kock |
| Ajinkya Rahane | Rahmanullah Gurbaz |
| Manish Pandey | Venkatesh Iyer |
| Rovman Powell | Andre Russell |
| Sunil Narine | Moeen Ali |
| Ramandeep Singh | Spencer Johnson |
| Anukul Roy | Anrich Nortje |
| Varun Chakravarthy | Chetan Sakariya |
| Harshit Rana | Mayank Markande (Traded Out) |
| Vaibhav Arora | |
| Umran Malik |
KKR TOP RELEASES. pic.twitter.com/zXDMUuBm9k
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Biggest purse in the IPL 2026 Auction
KKR enter the IPL 2026 auction with a lump sum of Rs 64.3 crore remaining in their purse and 13 available squad slots, including 6 for overseas players.
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