Three-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) revealed the list of players they retained and released from the squad on Saturday (November 15).
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) made headlines during the trade window but could not sign mega-deals with the other Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises.
According to reports, they have tried their best to rope in the services of KL Rahul after the appointment of Abhishek Nayar as head coach. However, Delhi Capitals (DC) were in no mood to move on from star keeper-batsman Rahul and bluntly rejected KKR’s request.
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One franchise they didn’t say ‘no’ to was the Mumbai Indians (MI), as the Knight Riders traded young leg-spinner Mayank Markande to the five-match champions.
Apart from that, they parted ways with some very big names. They released their trusted all-rounder Andre Russell, which came as a huge surprise, along with their most expensive player Venkatesh Iyer, who was bought for INR 23.75 crore.
O KKR also expressed their intention to offload Nortje, Quinton in Kock, John’s Sperer, Rahmanah Gurbaz, Moreen Ali, Luvnneth Sysica and Syrian.
List of players retained by Kolkata Knight Riders:
Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik.
List of players released by Kolkata Knight Riders:
Luvnith Sisoyah, Quinton de Cool, Rahmanah Guardaz, Venkatete Iyer, Andre Russell and Russell, and John’s Shipping Shipping, Anrich Tottje, Tortje
List of players traded IN and OUT by KKR:
Mayank Markande (traded to MI)
Former Indian batting coach not surprised by Andre Russell’s KKR exit
In a video shared by ESPNCricinfo on their X handle, former Indian national cricket team batting coach Sanjay Bangar was asked if he was surprised by Andre Russell’s release.
In response to this, Sanjay Bangar said that he was not surprised at all and saw the long-term relationship between KKR and Andre Russell ending. He added that the all-rounder was not used properly by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) last season.
“Not really (when asked if he was surprised by Andre Russell’s release). Because the signs were there that KKR probably wasn’t using the services of Russell the batter because most of the time he was batting lower down the order and also his usage as a bowler because he had barely bowled his full quota of four overs in most of the matches he played last season. So there were signs that Russell might have to, you know, plying his trade for another franchise,” Sanjay Bangar said.
Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders have a huge purse of INR 64.3 crores after retaining and releasing players, which is the highest among all the teams. They also have 13 squad spots available, including six for foreign players.
Read also: Shocking! Andre Russell released by Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of IPL 2026 auction
