KOLKATA: Kolkata Knight Riders seem to be in a mood for complete overhaul of their overseas contingent as they released six of them out of the 15 in all ahead of the IPL mini-auction scheduled to take place in Kochi on December 23.
Keeping faith in old warhorses Sunil Narine and Andre Russell, in spite of both not playing too much cricket over the year, KKR found themselves in a tricky situation after three of their leading stars Pat Cummins, Sam Billings and Alex Hales opted out of next year’s tournament. They now have three overseas slots to fill up.
However, they already spent huge amounts on trading New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson and Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz from Gujarat Titans. Thus after the release of the final retention list on Tuesday, the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned franchise is left with the smallest purse among the 10 sides with Rs 7.05 crore.
Among the domestic players, KKR did away with Ajinkya Rahane, whom they bought for Rs 1 crore last year. The Mumbai batter, who played only seven games scoring 133 runs, led Mumbai to their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 meet last month, but big runs eluded him.
With the release of pacer Shivam Mavi, KKR finally did away with three rising talents from the 2018 U-19 World Cup after Shubman Gill and Kamlesh Nagarkoti departed over the years. It seems that the team management had finally run out of patience with Mavi, who had been down with frequent injuries, ending up taking 30 wickets in 32 matches for the franchise.
KKR will have to look for a quality domestic wicketkeeper too in the auction after they released both Sheldon Jackson and Baba Indrajith. KKR’s quest for a settled top-order will continue after they tried out different combinations, but in vain, last season. With no Finch, Hales and Rahane now, the search will definitely continue in the auction.
AT A GLANCE
Released: Aaron Finch, Abhijeet Tomar, Ajinkya Rahane, Alex Hales, Ashok Sharma, Baba Indrajith, Chamika Karunaratne, Mohammad Nabi, Pat Cummins, Pratham Singh, Ramesh Kumar, Rasikh Dar, Sam Billings, Sheldon Jackson, Shivam Mavi
Traded (acquired): Shardul Thakur, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Lockie Ferguson
Purse remaining: Rs 7.05 crore
Overseas slots remaining: 3
