Kolkata Knight Riders has been part of every IPL edition since it’s inception in 2008. They have also participated in the retention process ahead of every IPL mega auction held so far in IPL history.
The three-time champs have retained Sunil Narine in every season since his arrival to the league in 2012. That trend continued again this year as KKR retained the former West Indies spinner alongside five other players.
A mega auction has been held in 2011, 2014, 2018 and most recently in 2022, editions in which teams have gone through big changes. Here is a look at KKR retention list ahead of all IPL mega auctions so far:
KKR Retained Player List Before IPL 2011 Mega Auction
Ahead of the first-ever IPL mega auction in 2011, Kolkata Knight Riders opted to build right from the scratch as they released the entire squad from the 2010 edition. At the auction, they went on to sign their most successful skipper Gautam Gambhir.
KKR Retained Player List Before IPL 2014 Mega Auction
In 2014, the Kolkata-based side opted to retain just two players from their 2013 squad with the retention of skipper Gambhir for Rs 12.50 Crore, and mystery spinner Narine for Rs 9 Crore. They also bought back Chris Lynn for Rs 1.6 Crore using the RTM card at the auction, which also saw them land Andre Russell.
KKR Retained Player List Before IPL 2018 Mega Auction
In 2018, KKR retained the Caribbean duo Narine and Russel. While Narine was retained for Rs 8.5 Crore, a total of Rs 12.5 Crore was deducted from their purse. Similarly, Rs 8.5 Crore was deducted from the purse despite retaining Russell for Rs 7 Crore.
The Knights also used the RTM card to buy back some of their key Indian players, wicketkeeper-batter Robin Uthappa for Rs 6.4 Crore, spinner Kuldeep Yadav for Rs 5.80 Crore and another spinner in Piyush Chawla for Rs 4.50 Crore.
KKR Retained Player List Before IPL 2022 Mega Auction
In 2022 when two new teams joined the league, Kolkata Knight Riders opted to retain Russell for Rs 12 Crore, Indian duo of Venkatesh Iyer and Varun Chakravarthy for Rs 8 Crore each alongside Narine for Rs 6 Crore.
KKR Retained Player List Before IPL 2025 Mega Auction
KKR Retention 2025: On the back of their third IPL title in 2024, KKR as expected retained Narine for Rs 12 Crore, but their top retention was Rinku Singh, who was retained for Rs 13 Crore. Varun Chakravarthy also continued his journey with the Kolkata-based side after being retained for Rs 12 Crore.
Andre Russell also remained with the franchise for Rs 12 Crore, while the Kolkata Knight Riders rewarded uncapped duo of Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh, retaining the pacer and all-rounder for Rs 4 Crore each.
