Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) were not expected to go big in the auction as they had completed the trade of Lockie Ferguson and Shardul Thakur beforehand. Their most expensive player in the auction turned out to be Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan who they picked in the last round for Rs 1.5 crore. They also picked Litton Das for his base price and became the first Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise to include two Bangladesh players in the squad.
KKR went for utility players as they got Namibia all-rounder David Wiese. Also, they roped in N Jagadeesan for Rs 90 lakh. The top-order batter broke Rohit Sharma's record with a 277-run knock in Vijay Hazare Trophy 2022.
KKR have won the IPL title on two occasions. The first victory for the franchise came in 2012 when KKR defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the final. The second title of KKR came in 2014 when they defeated Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in the final. In the 2022 edition, KKR could only manage to win six out of their 14 matches and finished seventh in the standings. Some of the big names like Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Ricky Ponting, Shoaib Akhtar, Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum among others have played for KKR.
Players picked in the Auction:
N Jagadeesan: Rs 90 Lakh
Vaibhav Arora: Rs 60 Lakh
Suyash Sharma: Rs 20 Lakh
David Wiese: Rs 1 Crore
Kulwant Khejroliya: Rs 20 Lakh
Litton Das: Rs 50 Lakh
Mandeep Singh: Rs 50 Lakh
Shakib Al Hasan: Rs 1.5 Crore
KKR Captain: Shreyas Iyer
Coach: Chandrakant Pandit
Home Ground: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
IPL titles: 2 (2012 and 2014)
KKR Owner: Red Chillies Entertainment and Mehta Group
Kolkata have retained 14 players for IPL 2023 while the franchise traded for three players - Shardul Thakur, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Lockie Ferguson. Meanwhile, Pat Cummins, Alex Hales and Sam Billings made themselves unavailable for the upcoming edition of the cash-rich league.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Retained Players List
Shreyas Iyer (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Anukul Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, CV Varun, Harshit Rana
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Released Players List
Pat Cummins, Sam Billings, Aman Khan, Shivam Mavi, Mohammad Nabi, Chamika Karunaratne, Aaron Finch, Alex Hales, Abhijeet Tomar, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Sharma, Baba Indrajith, Pratham Singh, Ramesh Kumar, Rasikh Salam, Sheldon Jackson
