Champions dispersed after IPL auction, some fell here, some fell there, from Kolkata to Delhi-Bengaluru-Punjab…

New Delhi. Such a difference has rarely been seen between two seasons of IPL as it is going to be seen this time. Take the champion team of IPL 2024, KKR. Most of the players who made this team champion have dispersed. Half of the players of this champion team will now be seen playing for other teams. These include players like captain Shreyas Iyer, who made KKR the champion, most expensive bowler Mitchell Starc, team’s trouble-shooter Nitish Rana.

Kolkata Knight Riders had retained six players before the IPL 2025 auction. These included Rinku Singh (13 crores), Varun Chakraborty (12 crores), Sunil Narine (12 crores), Andre Russell (12 crores), Harshit Rana (4 crores), and Ramandeep Singh (4 crores). According to IPL rules, no team could retain more than six players (including RTM cards). KKR had retained 6 players. Therefore, the only option left for him/her was to add his/her old players to the team through auction. KKR was not seen doing this.

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KKR did not show interest in Shreyas-Stark
Kolkata Knight Riders neither made much effort to bring former captain Shreyas Iyer into the team nor Mitchell Starc. When he/she bid Rs 23.75 crore on Venkatesh Iyer, Sanjay Bangar even said that it seems KKR has bid on the wrong Iyer. Shreyas Iyer was bought by Punjab Kings for Rs 26.75 crore.

You can get Starc for less than half the price
KKR, which had bid Rs 24.75 crore for Mitchell Starc for IPL 20;24, did not give him/her even half the price this time. Mitchell Starc was bought by Delhi Capitals for Rs 11.75 crore. Nitish Rana has also been one of the key players of the KKR team. he/she also captained the team on many occasions. But this time KKR did not consider it right to bet on Nitish Rana. Rajasthan Royals included Nitish Rana in their team with a bid of Rs 4.20 crore.

Phil Salt and Suyyash now belong to RCB
Phil Salt, who gave a stormy start to KKR in IPL 2024, has also now joined the Royal Challengers Bangalore team. KKR spinner Suyyash Sharma will also no longer be with this team. RCB has also included Suyyash in its team. RCB bid Rs 11.50 crore for Phil Salt and Rs 2.60 crore for Suyyash.

tag: ipl auction, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mitchell Starc, Shreyas Iyer