The cat is finally out of the bag. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have revealed their player retentions, and as it was being speculated, Shreyas Iyer, who led the franchise to their third IPL title win, has not been retained and former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull believes that KKR cannot be faulted for not retaining Shreyas Iyer as the latter did not want to stay. He also said that the franchise got Harshit Rana relatively cheaply, as he would have been on the radar of many teams, had he entered the auction.

KKR have retained six players, and the franchise would not be even having the right-to-match (RTM) option, come the mega auction. KKR have opted to stick with Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh.

"Obviously, Shreyas didn’t want to stay; he wanted to enter the auction. So, we can’t fault Kolkata for that perspective. If he doesn’t want to stay, there’s no point in holding on to him and trying to force him," Doull said on JioCinema.

"I think they’ve retained the core of their success in Rinku, Narine, and Russell. Harshit Rana, in my view, is a very high-quality cricketer who would have gone for double, if not triple, what they retained him for. So, they've got a steal with him as well," he added.

'Rinku Singh won't be captain'

Former India spinner and Test captain, Anil Kumble, said that Rinku Singh won't be the captain and he has been picked as the top retention because of the finisher role, he plays so effectively.

"No, I don't think he will be the captain. I believe it's due to the role he plays so effectively. What KKR has achieved as a champion team is impressive; it's very difficult to retain just five or six players, yet they've done really well to keep six," said Kumble.

"At Rinku's batting position, they have two finishers—Andre Russell and Rinku Singh—who can close out games in the middle order. Both are extremely crucial, and KKR has retained them. With Varun Chakravarthy and, of course, Sunil Narine, they have a solid eight overs to cover those middle periods," he added.

Earlier this year, KKR had won the IPL title for the third time, having previously won the tournament in 2012 and 2014. Gautam Gambhir had come as the mentor for the franchise ahead of IPL 2024. After leading the franchise to the IPL title, Gambhir left as he was chosen as the head coach of the Indian senior men's side.

KKR assistant coaches Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate have also left the franchise, as they have assumed new responsibilities with Indian men's team.

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