Kolkata Knight Riders enters the IPL 2026 auction with three structural holes and one massive advantage: money. With no settled wicketkeeper, no first-choice opener, and no premium all-rounder after the exits of Andre Russell and Venkatesh Iyer, KKR’s rebuild will be the most aggressive in the auction room.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Auction Strategy 2026
Primary needs: Wicketkeeper, opener, all-rounder
KKR’s auction will be among the busiest and most consequential:
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No first-choice wicketkeeper after releasing Quinton de Kock and Rahmanullah Gurbaz
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No settled opener
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No premium allrounder after releasing Venkatesh and Russell
With one of the largest auction purses, KKR is structurally equipped to rebuild its spine across all three departments rather than chasing a single headline buy.
Purse remaining: Rs. 64.30 crore
Current squad: Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Published on Dec 10, 2025
