Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: List Of Players Retained, Released And Traded Ahead Of IPL 2024 Auction

Kolkata Knight Riders have released 12 players with Shardul Thakur and Lockie Ferguson being the big names ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 Auction. Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh along with the veteran duo of Andre Russell and Sunil Narine were retained by the franchise. On the other hand, Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Das, David Wiese, Narayan Jagadeesan, Mandeep Singh, Umesh Yadav and Tim Southee were all left out of the retention list. KKR have several gaps in their squad right now but they will be looking to make big buys in the auction with a purse of INR 32.1 Crore.

Gautam Gambhir was named the 'mentor' of Kolkata Knight Riders, an IPL franchise that he had led to title victories in 2012 and 2014.

Gambhir, the hero of India's T20 and 50-over World Cup wins, had led Shah Rukh Khan-owned-KKR from 2011 to 2017 before parting ways. For the past two seasons, he was at the helm of Lucknow Super Giants as their 'mentor.

Lucknow qualified for play-offs in both seasons but were unable to go the distance which prompted the franchise to bring in former Australia opener and T20 World Cup winning coach Justin Langer as their Head coach.

Once the Sanjiv Goenka-owned franchise roped in Langer, Gambhir's exit was always on the cards.

Complete Squad:  Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer, Jason Roy, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy.

Full List Of Released Players:Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Das, Aarya Desai, David Wiese, Shardul Thakur, Narayan Jagadeesan, Mandeep Singh, Kulwant Khejroliya, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Johnson Charles.

Remaining Purse For IPL 2024 Auction: INR 32.1 Crore.

(With PTI