As per IPL Retention rules, a team could retain six players at max, at different prices, with a maximum purse of INR 120 Cr. KKR utilised this offer fully and retained Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh. While this looks like a decent retention list, apart from Shreyas Iyer, they missed Venkatesh Iyer as well, who for the last three-four years has been their middle-order’s spine.
Just look at his record — in 51 matches he had 1326 runs, at an average of 31.57, including a ton and 11 fifties. In fact, he can open the innings, play in the middle-order, and even in the lower-order. He offers good value with the ball as well, even though he just has three wickets, but still better than Ramandeep Singh, who is yet to prove his worth for KKR.
If KKR do manage to get Venkatesh Iyer, that would mean a solid team of all-rounders, including the likes of Narine, Russell and even Harshit Rana. That would be one team that everyone would be wary of. He makes his case even stronger, given the performances he gave for the team in IPL 2024. This year, in 14 matches he scored 370 runs including 4 fifties.
He had a highest score of 70, and boasted of a strike rate of 158.80. Venkatesh Iyer, is sort of, irreplaceable for KKR, and getting him would mean, they would have the best team, at least on paper.
Rinku Singh: Rs 13 crore
Varun Chakaravarthy: Rs 12 crore
Sunil Narine: Rs 12 crore
Andre Russell: Rs 12 crore
Harshit Rana: Rs 4 crore
Ramandeep Singh: Rs 4 crore
Remaining purse for KKR ahead of IPL 2025 Auction: Rs 63 crore
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