KKR IPL 2025: Shreyas Iyer leaves Kolkata Knight Riders, Rinku Singh highest paid, check full list of retained players here

Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders had their task cut out as they had multiple options to choose from. The team lost only four matches last season and players played as a single unit.

Captain Shreyas Iyer led the team to their third IPL trophy, but has not been retained. The team has retained six players, including two uncapped players. Rinku Singh is the most played with Rs 13 crore, while the other international stars share Rs 12 crore each.

KKR retentions

Rinku Singh (Rs 13 crore)

Sunil Narine (Rs 12 crore)
Varun Chakravarthy (Rs 12 crore)
Andre Russell (Rs 12 crore)
Harshit Rana (Rs 4 crore)
Ramandeep Singh (Rs 4 crore)

The retentions leave the franchise without a captain. They will have one RTM card going into the auction, with many options to choose from.

KKR 2024 performance

They had multiple match winners helping them at different stages of the match. However, none was bigger than Sunil Narine who rightly won the Most Valuable Player award. Narine, opening the batting, scored 488 runs at strike rate of 180, and picked 17 wickets. His West Indian team mate Andre Russell was at his destructive best as well finishing innings and matches at will. However, his impact was more with the ball, picking 19 wickets. Narine’s opening partner Phil Salt was instrumental to the team’s batting success.

Among Indians, Varun Chakravarthy starred with 21 wickets and was supported well by uncapped pacer Harshit Rana, who took 19 wickets. Rinku Singh did not have a season like 2023, but has had an impact whenever he takes the field. Ramandeep Singh played good cameos down the order. Further, Venkatesh Iyer and Vaibhav Arora were also potential retention options.