Kolkata Knight Riders’ Probable IPL 2026 Release And Retention List: Three-Time Champions Face Venkatesh Iyer And Andre Russell Dilemma

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The Kolkata Knight Riders will consider themselves unfortunate on many parameters. They won the IPL for the third time, in 2024, in a very dominating fashion but they had to let go of their matchwinners the very next year, courtesy of the mega auctions that followed.

Kolkata let go of their biggest stars in Mitchell Starc, Phil Salt, and Shreyas Iyer. They then went on to buy Spencer Johnson, Quinton de Kock, and Ajinkya Rahane, but the results produced by the team were far from good.

 

 

 

 

The Knight Riders couldn’t do much in the previous season and managed to win only five out of their designated 14 group stage games. It is now time for the franchise to start from scratch and with Abhishek Nayar as the Head Coach, Kolkata will like to put a strong unit in place for the next season.

 

Kolkata Knight Riders Likely To Take A Few Big Calls

 

 

 

 

Kolkata have a fresh chance to right the wrongs from last year. Their homegrown player Venkatesh Iyer looked far from his best last year. KKR had released him ahead of IPL 2025, but in a surprising move, roped in the southpaw for INR 23.75 crore. Many experts believe that time has run out for Venkatesh Iyer in KKR and he might be released by the franchise prior to the auction.

 

 

 

 

There is a lot of chatter around Andre Russell and his place in the squad. Russell has been a proven matchwinner for KKR and has won two titles with them. Fitness is proving to be a huge concern for the Caribbean all-rounder, but Kolkata Knight Riders might end up retaining him.

 

Here’s A List Of Kolkata Knight Riders’ Probable List Of Released And Retained Players

 

 

 

 

  • Kolkata Knight Riders’ Squad: Rinku Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Anrich Nortje, Quinton de Kock, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Spencer Johnson, Moeen Ali, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Vaibhav Arora, Ajinkya Rahane, Rovman Powell, Umran Malik, Manish Pandey, Anukul Roy, Luvnith Sisodia, Mayank Markande
  • Kolkata Knight Riders’ Probable Retained Players: Rinku Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Moeen Ali, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, and Vaibhav Arora
  • Kolkata Knight Riders’ Probable Released Players: Venkatesh Iyer, Anrich Nortje, Quinton de Kock, Spencer Johnson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rovman Powell, Umran Malik, Manish Pandey, Anukul Roy, Luvnith Sisodia, Mayank Markande

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