All eyes were on the defending IPL champions, the Kolkata Knight Rider (KKR), as to how they would line up after the IPL 2025 mega auction that took place on two days at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on November 24 and 25. The team needed to regroup especially after their mentor for IPL 2024, Gautam Gambhir , left to become the Team India head coach. Another big blow to them was when they released their title winning captain Shreyas Iyer. However, what KKR have managed to do is retain a bul of their squad the won the IPL 2024.
Venkatesh Iyer was the biggest buy at Rs 23.75 crore, and everyone expects him to become the captain of the side. However, KKR smartly bought Ajinkya Rahane late into the auction for a bargain price of Rs 1.5 crore. The former India vice-captain is the ideal candidate to replace Shreyas Iyer as the captain of the side.
Sunil Narine is expected to open the batting along with new purchase Quinton de Kock. KKR have a strong middle order of Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, and Ramandeep Singh coming in the lower order at no.7. Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora and Anrich Nortje will form the pace triumvirate. Varun Chakravarthy will lead the spin attack alongside Narine.
KKR Predicted Playing XI After IPL 2025 Auction:
Sunil Narine, Quinton de Kock (wk), Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Anrich Nortje, Varun Chakravarthy
Impact Player: Angkrish Raghuvanshi
KKR Full Squad After IPL 2025 Auction:
| Player | Price |
| Rinku Singh | Rs 13 cr |
| Sunil Narine | Rs 12 cr |
| Varun Chakravarthy | Rs 12 cr |
| Andre Russell | Rs 11 cr |
| Harshit Rana | Rs 4 cr |
| Ramandeep Singh | Rs 4 cr |
| Venkatesh Iyer | Rs 23.75 cr |
| Quinton de Kock | Rs 3.6 cr |
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz | Rs 2 Cr |
| Anrich Nortje | Rs 6.5 Cr |
| Angkrish Raghuvanshi | Rs 3 Cr |
| Vaibhav Arora | Rs 1.6 Cr |
| Mayank Markande | Rs 30 Lakh |
| Rovman Powell | Rs 1.50 Cr |
| Manish Pandey | Rs 75 Lakhs |
| Spencer Johnson | Rs 2.8 Cr |
| Luvnith Sisodia | Rs 30 Lakhs |
| Anukul Roy | Rs 40 Lakhs |
| Ajinkya Rahane | Rs 1.5 Cr |
| Moeen Ali | Rs 2 Cr |
| Umran Malik | Rs 75 Lakhs |