KKR, who launched Shreyas Iyer after he led them to the title in 2024, completed eighth on the factors desk in 2025, with a number of stars misfiring
2024 champions Kolkata Knight Riders simply failed to replicate their performance from their title winning season in IPL 2025. Ajinkya Rahane and co. finished 8th on the points table after a sub-par season, winning just five out of 14 games in the season. Clearly, the team’s attempt to revamp by releasing the likes of Shreyas Iyer and buying back some of the stars like Venkatesh Iyer, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, among others backfired.
With the November 15 deadline for teams to finalize their retentions and releases looming, KKR would have to make some sensible and hard calls in order to reorganise themselves and bounce back in IPL 2026. The mini-auction is scheduled to take place in the December 13-15 window. Ahead of the auction, let’s take a look at some of the players KKR should release.
Predicted KKR release list
1. Venkatesh Iyer
KKR released the Madhya Pradesh all-rounder ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, only to buy him back for a whooping Rs 23.75 crore. What followed was disaster. Iyer, who had been very consistent for the side until IPL 2024, registered his worst-ever season in 2025. He managed to score just 142 runs from 11 matches at a miserable average of 20.29. With just one half-century to his name, Venkatesh was simply a letdown as he failed to justify his hefty price tag.
Iyer wasn’t used as a bowler throughout IPL 2025, which means he was just eating up a spot in the playing XI. KKR might as well release him before IPL 2026 auction and add Rs 23.75 crore to their auction purse. That would rather allow them to pursue better and sustainable all-round options at the auction.
2. Anrich Nortje
Bought for Rs 6.50 crore, the injury-prone South African pacer featured in just 2 matches in IPL 2025. In those two games, he managed to take just one wicket while conceding 83 runs.
3. Quinton de Kock
The South African is another player that KKR need to get rid of ahead of IPL 2026. Barring his unbeaten 97-run knock, the keeper-batter has simply failed to fire in this season. There is no question about de Kock’s ability as he has proven to be a run-getter in the previous editions. However, KKR can rather release him since they already have a keeper-batter in the form of Gurbaz. Besides, by getting rid of de Kock, KKR can also afford to think of signing an Indian keeper.
4. Manish Pandey
Signed for Rs 75 lakhs, the Karnataka batter featured in just 3 games where he managed to score 92 runs. In a star-studded batting line-up of KKR’s, Pandey was simply a misfit. Releasing Manish could help KKR scout a younger top-order batter who could serve as a proper back-up.
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