Kolkata Knight Riders is all set to enter into the IPL 2026 mini auction with a huge purse as they have released some of their key players. Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer are longer a part of KKR.
KKR Retained Players List IPL 2026. The Kolkata Knight Riders have made a major decision regarding IPL 2026. The team has released their star player Andre Russell. Furthermore, the team has released Venkatesh Iyer, whom they acquired last year for 23.75 crore rupees. The team has also released Moeen Ali.
Surprising retention lists by Kolkata Knight Riders
Russell had been with the team for a long time, but hadn’t performed as expected over the past few seasons. This is likely why he was released. There had been previous reports of Iyer’s release, and it was being said that the franchise might buy him for a low price in the auction.
At the same time, Chandrakant Pandit, who was the head coach for three consecutive seasons, has been replaced by Abhishek Nayar, who will decide on the new captain of the team. Abhishek Nayar was earlier associated with the team as a mentor along with Gautam Gambhir and now he has returned as the coach and will make changes in the team. The team has appointed Shane Wootton as assistant coach and Tim Southee as bowling coach. Kolkata will enter the auction to be held in December with the highest purse of Rs 64.3 crore.KKR Retention List For IPL 2026
Retained Players: Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakraborty
List of released players
Andre Russell
Venkatesh Iyer
Moeen Ali
Enrique Norkhia
Quinton de Kock
Spencer Johnson
When did KKR win the title in IPL history?
2012 – KKR beat CSK
2014 – KKR beat Punjab Kings
2024 – KKR beat Sunrisers Hyderabad