IPL Auction 2023 Kolkata Knight Riders: KKR Complete Squad, Players Bought In Mini Auction, Remaining Purse, And Strongest Playing XI. The Kolkata Knight Riders are the IPL’s third most successful franchise, having won the trophy twice, in 2012 and 2014. Though they had a convincing run in 2021 and went through to the finals, they had to face a crushing defeat at the hands of the mighty men in yellow, the CSK. However, the Knights under their new captain, Shreyas Iyer, underperformed expectations in 2022, failing to even make the playoffs.
After such a disappointing season, KKR headed to the auctions with most of their purse money used up, even after the release of expensive players like Cummins, Billings, and many more. This was because KKR was the busiest team in trades and traded in Shardul Thakur (10 Cr) from Delhi, Lockie Ferguson (10 Cr), and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (50 L) from Gujarat Titans.
Players Bought By KKR In IPL Auction 2023
Though the Knights were not quite promising in the mini-auction, they still picked up a handy number of players with the minimum purse amount with which they entered the mini-auction.
| Player Name | Country | Base price | Final Bid amount |
| Narayan Jagadeesan | India | 20 lakhs | 90 lakhs |
| Vaibhav Arora | India | 20 lakhs | 60 lakhs |
| Suyash Sharma | India | 20 lakhs | 20 lakhs |
| David Wiese | South Africa / Namibia | 1 crore | 1 crore |
| Kulwant Khejroliya | India | 20 lakhs | 20 lakhs |
| Litton Das | Bangladesh | 50 lakhs | 50 lakhs |
| Mandeep Singh | India | 50 lakhs | 50 lakhs |
| Shakib Al Hasan | Bangladesh | 1.5 crores | 1.5 crores |
Remaining purse
Though the Knight Riders entered the mini-auction with just 7.05 crores in their bank, they still managed to walk out of the auction with a purse of 1.65 crores.
Also Read: IPL 2023 Auction: Gujarat Titans (GT) Team Players List, Full Squad For TATA IPL 2023
KKR Full squad 2023
The Knight Riders have retained most of their marquee players in skipper Shreyas Iyer, batsman Venky Iyer, and Nitish Rana, as well as dependable all-rounders Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, alongside the new formidable inclusions Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Lockie Ferguson, and Shardul Thakur. Along with all the new inclusions, let’s have a look at what the KKR squad looks like:
- Shreyas Iyer
- Nitish Rana
- Rahmanullah Gurbaz
- Venkatesh Iyer
- Andre Russell
- Sunil Narine
- Shardul Thakur
- Lockie Ferguson
- Umesh Yadav
- Tim Southee
- Harshit Rana
- Varun Chakravarthy
- Anukul Roy
- Rinku Singh
- Narayan Jagadeesan
- Vaibhav Arora
- Suyash Sharma
- David Wiese
- Kulwant Khejroliya
- Litton Das
- Mandeep Singh
- Shakib Al Hasan
KKR’s Predicted Playing XI
Last year, KKR had to fill some significant voids in their opening spot, which is likely to be filled this year with the addition of Afghan batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Other voids were in the lower order, which can be well conserved with Shakib and Shardul.
Predicted Playing XI:
- Rahmanullah Gurbaz ( WK)
- Venkatesh Iyer
- Nitish Rana
- Shreyas Iyer ( C )
- Shakib Al Hasan
- Rinku Singh
- Andre Russell
- Shardul Thakur
- Tim Southee
- Umesh Yadav
- Varun Chakravarthy
This squad has a strong opening pair, with the two openers being explosive batters. While the middle order is experienced and trustworthy with Skipper Iyer, Nitish Rana, Shakib, and finishing giant Andre Russell, the lower order contains slogger Shardul Thakur and bowling spearheads Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, and highest-scoring T20I wicket-taker Tim Southee. With both of the top two international T20 wicket-takers on the KKR side, they can be considered promising bowling sides.
