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 released a total of 11 players, including Andre Russell, before IPL 2026. However, in this article, we will see all the players who are on the KKR Retention List before the mini-auction in 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 saw the most surprising KKR Retention List. However, Kolkata Knight Riders 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, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Anukul Roy, Rovman Powell, Umran Malik
Likely Released List of Kolkata Knight Riders 2026
Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Anrich Nortje, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Moeen Ali, Shivam Shukla, Chetan Sakariya, Lovnith Sisodia, Mayank Markande (Trade), Spencer Johnson
KKR Retained Players List from Mini Auction 2026
The Kolkata Knight Riders made some surprising decisions ahead of the 2026 mini auction. While they retained their key players, they surprised everyone by releasing Andre Russell. Before the mini auction, Kolkata Knight Riders retained a total of 12 players, and now they have the biggest purse available (64.3 CR) to spend in the mini auction.
| Players | Role | Price |
| Rinku Singh | Batter | 13.00 Cr |
| Angkrish Raghuvanshi | Batter | 3.00 Cr |
| Ajinkya Rahane | Batter | 1.50 Cr |
| Manish Pandey | Batter | 75.0 L |
| Sunil Narine | Allrounder | 12.00 Cr |
| Ramandeep Singh | Allrounder | 4.00 Cr |
| Anukul Roy | Allrounder | 40.0 L |
| Rovman Powell | Allrounder | 1.50 Cr |
| Varun Chakaravarthy | Bowler | 12.00 Cr |
| Harshit Rana | Bowler | 4.00 Cr |
| Vaibhav Arora | Bowler | 1.80 Cr |
| Umran Malik | Bowler | 75.0 L |
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Squad before IPL 2026
| Category | Player | Role/Notes |
| Ajinkya Rahane | Captain/ Batter | |
| Rinku Singh | Middle-order Batter | |
| Angkrish Raghuvanshi | Batter | |
| Manish Pandey | Middle-order Batter | |
| All-rounders | Sunil Narine | All-rounder |
| Ramandeep Singh | All-rounder | |
| Anukul Roy | All-rounder | |
| Rovman Powell | All-rounder | |
| Bowlers | Vaibhav Arora | Fast Bowler |
| Harshit Rana | Fast Bowler | |
| Varun Chakravarthy | Spin bowler | |
| Umran Malik | Fast Bowler |