KKR IPL Auction: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have a budget of INR 7.05 crore – the smallest among all ten teams in the IPL 2023 auction. They have as many as 11 slots available and can buy a maximum of three overseas players.
Kolkata Knight Riders’ biggest strengths are their West Indies duo of Andre Russell and Sunil Narine. Narine also forms a lethal spin bowling combination with Varun Chakravarthy, with the two playings a pivotal role in taking the team to the final of the 2021 edition. Lockie Ferguson and Tim Southee offer pace, while Umesh Yadav brings his experience in the powerplay overs. In Shreyas Iyer, Kolkata Knight Riders have a shrewd skipper up the order, while Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh are X-factors and have been associated with the side since 2018.
Players Retained In The Upcoming Auction
The KKR has retained a total of 14 players. These 14 players will continue to be members of the purple team and no other IPL team would be able to trade them. Here is the list of players retained by the KKR in the IPL 2023 season:
- Shreyas Iyer
- Gurbaj
- Rinku Singh
- Andre Russell
- Sunil Narine
- Nitish Rana
- Anukul Roy
- Venkatesh Iyer
- Shardul Thakur
- Tim Southee
- Lockie Ferguson
- Umesh Yadav
- Varun Chakraborty
- Harshit Rana
Players Traded Ahead Of The IPL Auction
Ahead of IPL 2023, they traded Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ferguson from Gujarat Titans besides getting the services of Shardul Thakur from Delhi Capitals in exchange for Aman Khan.
KKR Squd Ahead Of The IPL Auction 2023
Kolkata Knight Riders squad (overseas cricketers underlined)
Shreyas Iyer (C), Nitish Rana, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh
Overseas Players?
Kolkata Knight Riders have a total slot of 11 players out of which 3 can be Overseas players and 6 Indian players
Purse Remaining For The IPL Auction 2023
The KKR has already spent 87.95 Cr. Rupees on retaining the 14 players mentioned above. It needs the remaining balance of 7.95 Cr. In the IPL auction 2023, each team will have the slab of 95 crores. The amount is 5 crores more than the previous season.
KKR IPL Auction 2023: KKR Watch List?
KKR have a number of slots to fill in the IPL auction 2023, with the budget constraints the franchise is a little bit skeptical to buy big players with a less base price. They should look to go after Mayank Agarwal, who, at INR 1 crore, could help solve their opening woes. Narayan Jagadeesan will also be an excellent option for the side. The former Chennai Super Kings wicketkeeper will help solve two of the team’s problems and is also in excellent form.
They will also look for the young Indian fast bowler after releasing Shivam Mavi and will look for Ishan Porel, a fast bowler from the U-19 squad also familiar to the ground as being the local.
Narayan Jagadeesan will also be an excellent option for the side.
KKR has retained Shreyas Iyer as the captain of the team for the IPL 2023 season.
The team put up an extremely poor performance last season under this captaincy. Chandrakant Pandit is KKR’s head coach. Ten Doeschate is the team’s fielding coach, while Brendon McCullum is the team’s batting coach. In March this year, Bharat Arun was appointed as KKR’s bowling coach.
Why IPL auction 2023 is held in Kochi?
The auction of players for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 will be held in Kochi on 23rd December 2022.
Some of the famous urban cities like Bengaluru, New Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad, along with The Turkish city of Istanbul, were in contention to host the auction. However, the BCCI has opted for the coastal Kerala city.
“Logistically, and considering the dates, Kochi turned out to be the most suited option,” a BCCI official told PTI.
This year’s bidding process will be a mini-auction, unlike the regular mega auction. The 10 IPL franchises have submitted their list of retained and released players.
