KKR Retention List IPL 2025: Full list of players retained by Kolkata Knight Riders, Price tags in INR and Purse remaining

Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have retained middle-order batter Rinku Singh, West Indies all-rounder pair Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, spinner Varun Chakaravarthy, and uncapped all-rounder duo of Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh in that order of price, ahead of the IPL 2025 auction.

Rinku will be the highest earner at the franchise for now with a contract worth ₹13 crore, a massive jump from his ₹ 55 lakh salary till last season. Russell, Narine and Varun would earn the same - ₹12 crore with Harshit and Ramandeep getting ₹4 crore each. KKR will have no Right to Match option available at the auction.

Although KKR were spoilt for choices after a commanding title win in IPL 2024, which was exemplary for the teamwork on display, not many observers would have predicted these exact names for their retentions. The biggest miss is skipper Shreyas Iyer, who was a pivotal cog in KKR's stable last season.

The other big names not retained are Australian left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc, who won back-to-back Player of the Match awards in the first Qualifier and the final last season, all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer, who scored 50s in both those games, and batter Nitish Rana, who captained KKR in Shreyas' absence in IPL 2023.

Unless KKR see Narine or Russell as captaincy choices, they are likely to be one of the many teams to go into the IPL 2025 auction in search of a new skipper.

It took the team three years to reach its peak under Shreyas and head coach Chandrakant Pandit. Now, with most of the coaching staff gone and half the core released, the IPL 2025 auction will be of extreme importance for the rebuild.

List of players retained by KKR with price tag

Rinku Singh - ₹ 13 crore
Sunil Narine - ₹12 crore
Andre Rusell - ₹12 crore
Varun Chakarvarty - ₹12 crore
Harshit Rana - ₹4 crore
Ramandeep Singh - ₹4 crore

KKR purse for IPL 2025 Auction

KKR would go into the IPL 2025 auction with a remaining purse of ₹51 crore. Although they have spent just ₹57 crore of their ₹120 crore budget, the IPL rules require a minimum number to be reduced from the kitty, irrespective of how the teams decide to divide the salaries among their retained players.