KKR's retention strategy - (Source: AFP)
On Sunday, November 15, three-time winners Kolkata Knight Riders revealed their retention list for IPL 2026. The Knight Riders, who had a disastrous IPL 2025, have undergone a major overhaul as they released 10 players ahead of the next season.
Notably, KKR will enter the IPL 2026 auction with the highest purse value of 64.30 crores, with 13 maximum slots available. Ahead of the auction, this article will analyse KKR's trade, retentions, release, and how have the Knight Riders done.
KKR's retentions, releases, and trades
KKR's retentions: Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy.
KKR's releases: Andre Russell, Anrich Nortje, Chetan Sakariya, Luvnith Sisodia, Moeen Ali, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Spencer Johnson, Venkatesh Iyer
KKR trade: Mayank Markande to MI (30 lakhs)
KKR's purse value: Rs. 64.30 crore
Slots remaining: 13
Positives for KKR
-The management has quickly acted on the weak opening pair of Rahmnullah Gurbaz and Quinton de Kock and released both the star talents. It has allowed KKR to bring in two new openers and also freed up two overseas slots.
-Another positive for the Knight Riders is that they are looking past their aged cricketers. Moeen Ali, for example, did well for the three-time winners in IPL 2025 with six wickets in five innings, but the Knight Riders are now looking beyond him, and so is Andre Russell.
-Russell's release has actually raised questions and drawn criticism, but in hindsight, it seems a great choice, because Russell's 12 crore salary allows KKR to go into the auction with the highest purse value and also buy him back at a lower price. Thus, this move is great from a business point of view.
Get rid of non-performing assets: KKR have also listened to the fans and right introspected what is going wrong within their team. Thus, the decision to let go of non-performing assets such as Venkatesh Iyer, Spencer Johnson, and Anrich Nortje has actually freed them of 32 crores.
Negatives for KKR
-Releasing Luvnith Sisodia is not the right choice, as the 25-year-old could have gone on to replicate an Angkrish Raghuvanshi-like rise. Notably, the youngster rose to fame when he took KKR's pre-season training session by storm, but failed to get a game in IPL 2025.
Thus, KKR should have given him a longer rope and is doing well in domestic leagues such as Maharaj T20 2025, scoring 240 runs in 11 innings, averaging 24 and a scoring rate of 192.
What's the plan with Manish Pandey?
KKR's retention strategy has been pretty simple and straightforward, where they have rewarded the performing stars and parted ways with the underwhelming talents. However, when it comes to Indian talents, particularly Manish Pandey, their strategy is quite puzzling.
KKR have retained Manish Pandey, who was bought for 50 lakhs and will be 37 years old by IPL 2026. Notably, Pandey has played just 19 games in the last four seasons and amassed 382 runs. Thus, the plan is not quite clear with Manish Pandey.
-Trust in Umran Malik
Umran Malik is on a similar track with Mayank Yadav, where the two speedsters are struggling to stay fit. It is not the only concern, as Malik lacks the pace and has gone wayward. Thus, his retention has certainly raised questions.
Challenges for KKR
A backup for Rovman Powell
Now with Russell's departure, Rovman Powell is most likely to step into Russell's footsteps. However, KKR need to hunt down a perfect back-up for Rovman Powell, in case of an injury.
Two quality openers
As mentioned above, KKR have released two openers and now face a tough hurdle to buy two quality openers who can replicate Phil Salt's heroics during the title-winning season.
Six overseas options
KKR need to fill in a maximum of six overseas talents, and the mini-auction has a history of franchises spending a lot of bucks on one or two players. Thus, KKR need to be careful that they don't spend a lot on a couple of foreign talents as they need to fill a maximum of six foreign stars.
A back-up Indian spinner
KKR also need to target a backup Indian spinner for Narine and Varun as the three-time winners have traded Mayank Markande to the Mumbai Indians for IPL 2026.
How does KKR's line-up look with retained talents, and which are the blanks to be filled?
1.______
2.Sunil Narine
3.Ajinkya Rahane
4.Angkrish Raghuvanshi
5. Rovman Powell
6.Rinku Singh
7. Ramandeep Singh
8.Harshit Rana
9.Vaibhav Arora
10.Varun Chakaravarthy
11._________
Conclusion
KKR have overall done a tremendous job with their retentions and releases as they will enter the auction with the highest purse value, allowing them the chance to buy the player they want without fearing the price tag.
Similar to how PBKS ruled the 2025 mega-auction, KKR have the chance to dominate IPL 2026 mini-auction, fix their loopholes and bounce back next season.
Overall rating - 9/10 (The retentions of Umran Malik, Manish Pandey and releasing Luvnith Sisodia were the only puzzling part).
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.jpg?type=mq "IND-A vs PAK-A WTW")
