Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) entered the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction with a tight purse as they retained six core members of their team from last season. Despite the restricted purse, KKR made some interesting moves on Day 1 of the auction, like spending Rs 23.75 crore on Venkatesh Iyer, who was in the radar of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). Both LSG and RCB tried to buy Iyer but KKR were keen on signing the batter, who played a key role in their title-winning season.
The move surprised almost everyone as the Shah Rukh Khan-owned team went all in for Iyer in Jeddah. The player after returning to the franchise has expressed that he would be “more than happy” to fill in for Shreyas Iyer as the new KKR captain.
In addition to Iyer on Day 1, KKR also signed fast-bowler Anrich Nortje for Rs 6.5 crore. The team also bought a mix bag of emerging and experienced talents, which includes Mayank Markande (Rs 30 lakhs), Vaibhav Arora (Rs 1.8 crore), and Angkrish Raghuvanshi (Rs 3 crore). Clearly, KKR had a solid plan even with a small purse and they were not afraid of any risks to execute it.
Kolkata also signed Quinton de Kock for Rs 3.60 crore beating Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians in the bidding. On Day 2 of the auction, KKR entered with a small purse of Rs 10.05 crore in hope of signing some decent domestic players.
KKR IPL 2025 Squad: Rinku Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Venkatesh Iyer (Rs. 23.75 crore), Quinton de Kock (Rs. 3.60 crore), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Rs. 2 crore), Anrich Nortje (Rs. 6.50 crore), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (Rs. 3 crore), Vaibhav Arora (Rs. 1.80 crore), Mayank Markande (Rs. 30 lakh), Rovman Powell (Rs. 1.50 crore), Manish Pandey (Rs. 75 lakh), Spencer Johnson (Rs. 2.80 crore), Luvnith Sisodia (Rs. 30 lakh), Ajinkya Rahane (Rs. 1.50 lakh), Anukul Roy (Rs. 40 lakh), Moeen Ali (Rs. 2 crore), Umran Malik (Rs. 75 lakh).
