Kolkata Knight Riders faced criticism in IPL 2025 when they released their champion-making captain. Consequently, their performance in IPL 2025 disappointed everyone. While they were champions in IPL 2024, in IPL 2025, they won only 5 out of 14 matches in the group stage and failed to qualify for the playoffs. In IPL 2025, most of the players, including the captain, were out of form, and only a few performed decently.
The KKR may release many players before IPL 2026, but in this article, we will focus on the players who have the highest chance of being in KKR Retention List before the mini-auction 2026. The BCCI has officially announced the deadline for all franchises to submit their players’ retained list, which is November 15, 2025.
KKR had a very poor performance in IPL 2025, so we might soon see the most surprising KKR Retention List. However, Kolkata Knight Riders will likely look to recall some of their key players before the mini auction and release the rest, allowing them to rework their squad and build a strong team for the upcoming IPL 2026.
ALSO READ: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) Retention List for IPL 2026
Table of Contents
Kolkata Knight Riders Retained Players List 2026
Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Spencer Johnson
Likely Released List of Kolkata Knight Riders 2026
Venkatesh Iyer, Anrich Nortje, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Manish Pandey, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Rovman Powell, Shivam Shukla, Chetan Sakariya, Lovnith Sisodia, Mayank Markande
KKR Retained Players List from Mega Auction 2025
After being crowned IPL 2024 champions, the Kolkata Knight Riders made some surprising decisions ahead of the 2025 mega auction. While they retained their key players, they surprised everyone by releasing their captain, Shreyas Iyer. Before the mega auction, Kolkata Knight Riders retained a total of 6 players and spent ₹57 crore on them.
| Player | Price (INR CR) |
| Rinku Singh | 13 |
| Sunil Narine | 12 |
| Andre Russell | 12 |
| Varun Chakravarthy | 12 |
| Harshit Rana | 4 |
| Ramandeep Singh | 4 |
| Total Spent | 57 |
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Squad before IPL 2026
| Category | Player | Role/Notes |
| Batters | Quinton de Kock | Wicketkeeper Batter |
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz | Wicketkeeper Batter | |
| Ajinkya Rahane | Captain/ Batter | |
| Rinku Singh | Middle-order Batter | |
| Angkrish Raghuvanshi | Batter | |
| Manish Pandey | Middle-order Batter | |
| Lavnith Sisodia | Wicketkeeper Batter | |
| All-rounders | Sunil Narine | All-rounder |
| Andre Russell | All-rounder | |
| Ramandeep Singh | All-rounder | |
| Moeen Ali | All-rounder | |
| Venkatesh Iyer | All-rounder | |
| Anukul Roy | All-rounder | |
| Rovman Powell | All-rounder | |
| Bowlers | Anrich Nortje | Fast Bowler |
| Vaibhav Arora | Fast Bowler | |
| Harshit Rana | Fast Bowler | |
| Mayank Markande | Spinner | |
| Spencer Johnson | Fast Bowler | |
| Shivam Shukla | Bowler | |
| Varun Chakravarthy | Spin bowler | |
| Chetan Sakariya | Fast Bowler |
