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Explained: Why Will KKR Enter IPL 2025 Mega Auction With 51 Crore Instead Of 63 Crore?

Akshita Patel

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) retained 6 players ahead of IPL 2025 mega auction (@mufaddal_vohra/X.com)Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) retained 6 players ahead of IPL 2025 mega auction (@mufaddal_vohra/X.com)

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Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the defending champions, have exhausted their retention limit by retaining a total of 6 players, including 4 capped and 2 uncapped players. However, their remaining purse amount is still less due to certain caps set by the IPL governing council.

KKR made a lot of buzz at the retention deadline on October 31 as they went with 6 retentions, thus exhausting the limit. Meaning, KKR will have no RTM cards for the mega auction.

Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh found a place whereas captain Shreyas Iyer, who led KKR to title victory in IPL 2024, has been released for IPL 2025 season. As strange as it might sound, IPL is a land of uncertainty and surprises.

KKR's purse amount to take a hit 

Having said that, KKR leadership managed to convince the retained players to agree on a lower salary slab. Narine, Russell and Varun have agreed to settle for INR 12 crores with Rinku setting his bar to INR 13 crores. Both uncapped players, Harshit and Ramandeep will stay within the INR 4 crore cap. This accounts to a total of INR 57 crores.

However, as per the new retention structure, each franchise has a total of INR 75 crores allocated for top 5 retentions. Anything penny spent over this limit in retention will be paid by the franchise.

While KKR strategically paid less to their players than the maximum slab, they still had to adjust the amounts according to the 18+14+11+18+4+4 crores formula, which will impact their available auction purse. Hence, KKR will enter the auction with INR 51 crores with zero RTM cards.

Iyer's greed for money hurt KKR?

As per several rumours, Shreyas Iyer demanded a massive salary from KKR in exchange for his retention. While the maximum slab for first retention was set at INR 18 crores, Iyer's demands were far beyond KKR's reach as they had to look after other retentions as well. Hence, when Iyer refused to budge, KKR management made the tough call to release him into the mega auction despite the batter leading the team to title victory in IPL 2024.