Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) CEO Venky Mysore 'does not regret' letting some of their previous players leave and eventually help their Indian Premier League (IPL) rivals do well, the Mysore told reporters on the sidelines of the Knight Golf event in Kolkata.
One of their former players in Shubman Gill has been in fine form this season during their win over to KKR, with the India opener also playing a key role in winning the title in the Gujarat Titans' (GT) maiden appearance in IPL 2023.
"There is actually happiness when we see some of the players we have developed go to other franchises and do well -- Shubman Gill is an example," Mysore told reporters on the sidelines of the Knight Golf event here.
With 483 runs, Gill was among the top-five run-getter in IPL 2023. This time as well, the opener has smashed 333 runs in eight innings with an average of 41.62, putting him behind Faf Du Plessis in the leading run scorer's list.
"It's always difficult to lose such players and when they do such well. Yesterday also I was telling Gill (49) that I was enjoying your batting but I was hoping that you would not take the game away from us. score some runs, but let us... (win)," Mysore said during the event.
Not only Gill but also former KKR players Kuldeep Yadav (Delhi Capitals), Piyush Chawla (Mumbai Indians) and Ajinkya Rahane (Chennai Super Kings) have been in fine form for their respective franchises. Rahane, who got limited opportunities at KKR in IPL 2022, has been a transformed player under the talismanic MS Dhoni and will also make a Team India comeback in Tests after 15 months.
Gill scored a 49 in GT's seven-wicket win in Kolkata on Saturday that also took the defending champions to the top of the standings.
Putting the blame on IPL rules, Mysore said, "The limitation as you know, is the rules the IPL and BCCI make. In the 2022 auction, we were allowed to keep only four players. There's always a debate. There is always eight or nine whom we would like to keep, you had to select four out of those. It's tough but that's the system though. It happens to every team. (KKR captain) Shreyas (Iyer) was with Delhi and he's with us, so on and forth... I can give any number of example."
"It's never a regret, and the decisions were made based on the set of information that was available at that point. We believe those were the right decisions we made, but it's always tough to lose some players."
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