IPL 2025 auction: How do Kolkata Knight Riders stack up?
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) went all out for some marquee players at the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, over two days. The Knight Riders had retained six players from the squad that won them the 2024 IPL title. At the auction, they were bold enough to pick Venkatesh Iyer for a whopping ₹23.75 crore. We analyze their squad.
KKR squad: 21 players (8 overseas)
Retained players: Rinku Singh (₹13 crore), Varun Chakravarthy (₹12 crore), Sunil Narine (₹12 crore), Andre Russell (₹12 crore), Harshit Rana (₹4 crore), and Ramandeep Singh (₹4 crore). Rest of squad: Rovman Powell, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodia, Ajinkya Rahane, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Mayank Markande, Vaibhav Arora, Anrich Nortje, Spencer Johnson, and Umran Malik.
Will Venkatesh Iyer lead KKR?
The 2025 IPL auction saw KKR shell out ₹23.75 crore for Venkatesh Iyer, leading to speculation of a captaincy role. This comes despite KKR's decision against retaining their 2024 title-winning captain Shreyas Iyer, who was picked up by Punjab Kings (₹26.75 crore). Notably, Iyer has publicly stated that he would be willing to take the captaincy role. Rahane is another candidate for the same.
One of the best squads (IPL 2025)
KKR boast a star-studded squad following the 2025 IPL auction. Besides retaining six players, they also bought back as many from their 2024 batch. Some of their maquee picks include Quinton de Kock, Anrich Nortje, and Spencer Johnson. Sunil Narine can be rotated in the batting line-up as they have both de Kock and Gurbaz. Meanwhile, Rinku, Russell, and Ramandeep are the designated finishers.
A look at Probable XI
KKR Probable XI: Sunil Narine, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wicket-keeper), Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, and Anrich Nortje.
