Why KKR released Andre Russell ahead of IPL 2026 auction

Andre Russell and the Knight Riders have a special bond. Apart from Kolkata Knight Riders, the Jamaican all-rounder wears the purple and gold jersey in ILT20 for Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, CPL for Trinbago Knight Riders and MLC for LA Knight Riders.

That’s why when KKR released him ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 auction, everyone was shocked. Russell had not played for any other franchise since his debut. He was expected to be a one-team player, like Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. It ended up happening anyway. Since Russell announced his IPL retirement yesterday. But there’s more to the story.

Why did KKR release Andre Russell?

According to cricbuzzRussell could have participated in the auction, but KKR’s decision to announce him as a “power coach” made him change his mind. In fact, KKR would have even released Russell if not for IPL rules, with Chennai Super Kings (CSK)’s decision to release Matheesha Pathirana and Cameron Green.

KKR did not think that CSK would release the Sri Lankan pacer. At the time they did so, the five-time champions had a purse of INR 43.40 crore for the IPL 2026 auction. Had KKR not released Russell, their purse would have been INR 46.30 crore instead of 64.30.

This would not have given them an advantage in the auction. KKR plans to sign top players like Green, Pathirana, Ravi Bishnoi and Jamie Smith. The two-time champions could look to buy back Venkatesh Iyer at a lower price. That’s why they needed a big handbag.

KKR had named Russell its top retainer last season. However, instead of INR 18 crores, they paid him only 12. If KKR had retained Russell before the auction, they would have had the maximum deduction from their purse, 18 instead of 12.

Due to this specific IPL retention rule, they release KKR. If they had somehow managed to save that INR 6 crore, they might have persisted with him for at least one more season.

KKR team ahead of IPL 2026 auction

Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, ⁠Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy.