The retention list for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2025 has sparked interest. KKR, along with Rajasthan Royals, is one of the only teams to retain six players. Notably, KKR made Mitchell Starc the most expensive player in IPL history by acquiring him for ₹24.75 crore in the IPL 2024 auction. However, after not being included in the retention list for 2025, Starc stirred up excitement with a bold statement.
In a recent interview, Starc expressed his disappointment that KKR management hadn’t reached out to him. He said, “I haven’t received any call or message from them yet. This is franchise cricket. All Australian players, except for Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Travis Head and Pat Cummins, will be in the IPL 2025 mega auction.” Starc faced criticism early in the season when he struggled in the initial matches. But he proved his critics wrong, helping KKR reach the playoffs with a stellar performance. Against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Starc took 2 wickets for just 14 runs in 3 overs, silencing doubters.
Mitchell Starc about him getting released by KKR. pic.twitter.com/yGqWPTWW7q
— RVCJ Media (@RVCJ_FB) November 5, 2024
Only Two Australian Players Retained In IPL 2025
For IPL 2025, a total of 46 players were retained across the 10 teams, but only two of them were Australian. Sunrisers Hyderabad retained both Travis Head and Pat Cummins. This means big names like David Warner, Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, and Tim David will be heading into the auction.
KKR ended their decade-long trophy drought in IPL 2024. They beat Sunrisers Hyderabad comprehensively in the final. But the Knight Riders will undergo some key changes next season. Their captain Shreyas Iyer is not retained for the upcoming cycle, while mentor Gautam Gambhir, and assistant coaches Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate will also not be present in the KKR dugout next year.
KKR Retained Players List:
Rinku Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh.
KKR Released Players List:
Shreyas Iyer, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Nitish Rana, Sherfane Rutherford, Phil Salt, KS Bharat, Manish Pandey, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Suyash Sharma, Allah Ghazanfar, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain, Vaibhav Arora, Mitchell Starc, Chetan Sakariya