They might be released from KKR's squad after a poor show in the IPL 2025.
The three-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), would look to find some key answers while building up their squad in the IPL 2026 auction. The franchise failed to continue with their championship-winning core group from the IPL 2024, as they could retain only six players from that edition for the last edition, earlier this year.
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Their greatest setback was to let go of their title-winning captain Shreyas Iyer, who led the Punjab Kings (PBKS) to their maiden IPL Final in 10 years, in the latest season. However, the Men in Purple struggled to figure out their playing XI combination throughout the season. Moreover, several players’ decline in form resulted in a dismal campaign for the reigning champions in the IPL 2025.
Let’s take a look at three KKR stars, whom the franchise might release ahead of the IPL 2026 player auction, to find better picks for the slot.
The former Mumbai Indians (MI) gloveman, Quinton de Kock, joined the KKR squad for INR 3.60 crores. The South African opener started off the campaign for his new franchise with a sublime 97 not out off 61 balls in the second league-stage fixture. This guided KKR to an eight-wicket victory over the Rajasthan Royals (RR).
But the Proteas star could not continue the momentum in the league afterward. Eventually, he was dropped from the KKR lineup after eight matches of the IPL 2025. His stats of only 152 runs at a below-par average of 21.71 indicate that he is most likely not to be retained by the management ahead of the next edition.
The Afghanistani wicketkeeper-batter, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, replaced opener de Kock in KKR’s playing XI. But he also endured a lean patch of form and managed to score just 74 runs in his limited five-match appearance in the season.
Notably, the player has put up only 363 runs in 19 matches across three seasons at a strike rate of 134.94 since his IPL debut for KKR in 2023. The management may look to release him to fix their opening slot issue ahead of the upcoming edition of this cash-rich league.
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The biggest name on this list could be KKR’s costliest signing of the previous edition, Venkatesh Iyer. After retaining six players, including Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy and Harshit Rana, they went all in for the Madhya Pradesh batter in the IPL 2025 auction. After an intense bidding war, KKR finally acquired the southpaw for a massive amount of INR 23.75 crores.
But the 30-year-old failed to justify the huge price tag by his name. Venkatesh also lost his usual spot of No.3 to the new KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane and often came lower into the batting order. Apart from a blistering 29-ball 60 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their fourth match of the league, he managed to score only 82 runs in the remaining 10 matches that he played.
The southpaw has been a crucial find of the franchise and a key player since his smashing debut season in the IPL 2021. But considering his subpar performance in the latest edition, KKR may release the batter or trade him, as the IPL 2025 champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have already expressed their interest in the player, ahead of the IPL 2026.
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