Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will enter the IPL auction 2026 with the biggest purse of Rs 64.3 crore, and they have 13 spots to fill, including six overseas spots.
The three-time champions have retained a core group of players, which includes Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana and Angkrish Raghuvanshi. Apart from them, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Rovman Powell, Umran Malik and Vaibhav Arora have also been retained by the franchise for the next season.
KKR ready for IPL auction 2026
The 2025 IPL season was a tough one for Kolkata Knight Riders. Having entered the tournament as defending champions, the team struggled throughout the league stage, losing several key players from the 2024 title-winning team and finishing in eighth place.
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KKR’s campaign saw only five wins, while three other matches were affected by rain and ended without results. It was a disappointing season for the team and their fans and now they are preparing to make a strong comeback in IPL 2026.
They have already sacked Chandrakant Pandit and appointed Abhishek Nair as their new head coach ahead of the IPL auction 2026. Apart from Nair, KKR brought in Shane Watson as assistant coach and Tim Southee as bowling coach, and most recently, they have appointed their iconic all-rounder Andre Russell as their power coach.
Kolkata Knight Riders will retain Ajinkya Rahane as captain
Despite massive changes in the coaching staff, the franchise is reportedly in no mood to make a change in leadership. According to the report of ESPN Cricinfo journalist Nagaraj Gollapudi, Ajinkya Rahane is certain to remain the captain.
Rahane, an experienced batsman and leader who has captained Rajasthan Royals in the IPL and Mumbai in domestic cricket, is expected to retain the captaincy for the next season. Mysore also shared his bold strategic move indicating a fresh approach at the top of the order.
Talking about his IPL captaincy record, Ajinkya Rahane has led both Kolkata and Royals in 38 IPL matches so far and his win percentage is around 36.8 percent. Of these games, Rahane as IPL captain has won 14 games and lost 23, while one match ended with no result.
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Sunil Narine unlikely to open for KKR in IPL 2026
It is being said that West Indies all-rounder Sunil Narine will not open the innings for Kolkata Knight Riders in the upcoming IPL 2026. Narine was promoted to opening batsman in the 2024 season, and the move proved to be a masterstroke under the mentorship of Gautam Gambhir.
The left-handed batsman scored 488 runs in 14 innings and played a key role in the team’s third title win in 2024 under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer.
But Narine’s effectiveness as an opening batsman faded in the 2025 season, as he managed only 246 runs in 12 matches, and this may force him to think otherwise.
ESPNcricinfo Chatter – Nagaraj Gollapudi who recently interviewed Venky Mysore says-
Ajinkya Rahane will remain the captain of KKR.
Sunil Narine is not opening in IPL 2026. pic.twitter.com/p6bF5ane0p
– KKR Vibe (@KnightsVibe) 13 December 2025
Cameron Green on the radar of Kolkata Knight Riders
After Russell’s retirement from IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders need a strong all-rounder and Australia’s Cameron Green seems to be the right option for this. It is being said that big-budget KKR is expected to spend big to get Green in the IPL auction 2026.
Green has already made a big impact in the IPL, playing for Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). RCB will try, but the budget will not help them re-sign Green.
