Core strength retained, top order dire necessity for defending champs

Kolkata Knight Riders became the second team in IPL 2025 apart from RR to retain 6 players ahead of the IPL 2025 Mega Auction. The defending champions managed to retain their core setup well, but had to lose their title wining captain Shreyas Iyer. In desperate need of a keeper, KKR also need a couple of top order batters.

KKR have gone on to retain 3 all-rounders. Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Ramandeep Singh. But one of the key players that KKR are targeting is Rishabh Pant. The former Delhi Capitals captain would be a perfect fit in the Kolkata setup, raking up the X-factor that the team needs.

New Captain for KKR

KKR and Shreyas Iyer couldn’t agree on a retention price and the Iyer sees himself as the first title defending captain to not being retained. And this is where Rishabh Pant can be a perfect fit. He will be the keeper and apart from leading the side, can form a destructive finishing partner to Rinku Singh.

All this said and done, the addition of Pant if at all, will greatly fortify the middle and lower middle order for the Kolkata outfits. On the other hand, with 51 crore left, there is a chance that Kolkata Knight Riders will not want to spend half of their budget on a single player. In such a case, KKR can opt for a specialist keeper, but then the captaincy option will continue to linger.

Need for a Strong top order

With no Venkatesh Iyer, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer, NItish Rana retained in the team. The team faces a dearth of top order batters in the team. From the retained players, only Sunil Narine can operate as an opener as he had done over the last couple of years.

KKR has made it their plan to bank on specialist Indians in the upcoming auction. This is means, KKR will have a tough job in replacing their top order should they plan on defending their title again.

KKR Retention List 2025

Number of RTM left – 0

Rinku Singh – 13 Cr (18)
Varun Chakaravarthy – 12 Cr (14)
Sunil Narine – 12 Cr (11)
Andre Russell – 12 Cr (18)
Harshit Rana – Uncapped, Rs 4 Cr (4)
Ramandeep Singh – Uncapped, Rs 4 Cr (4)

Total Spent – 69 Crore

Purse Remaining – 51 Crore