Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders released 16 players that included the likes of Aaron Finch, Pat Cummins, Sam Billings, and Ajinkya Rahane among others on November 15 ahead of the IPL mini-auction.
The team released the maximum number of players among all the franchises and are left with the smallest purse for the IPL mini-auction scheduled for December 23 at Rs 7.05 crores.
With just 14 players in the squad, the team will look to make some smart buys at the auction.
Finch was roped in as a replacement for Alex Hales in the Knight Riders squad last year. The batter played in 92 matches and scored 2091 runs, averaging 25.19 with the best score of 88*.
The 2018 U-19 World Cup produced three unique talents for the Knight Riders. Shivam Mavi was retained by KKR despite injury issues throughout the years, even though Shubman Gill and Kamlesh Nagarkoti left.
Along with Aaron Finch, Pat Cummins, Sam Billings, Mohammad Nabi, and all-rounder Chamika Karunaratne, the right-arm seamer, who could also bat a little, is leaving the team as per ESPNcricinfo.
Over the course of 32 games, Mavi claimed 30 wickets at an 8.71 economy. The past season was his poorest, with an economy of 10.32 in six matches played, despite the fact that IPL 2021 was his finest year, with 11 wickets in nine games at a 7.24 economy.
Currently, the six players that were released would add INR 19.5 crore to KKR’s purse. While Billings was purchased for INR 2 crore, Mavi and Cummins were each purchased for INR 7.25 crore (about USD 0.97 million).
Karunaratne had been bought for INR 50 lac, while Nabi was purchased for INR 1 crore. Finch replaced Hales for INR 1.5 crore.
Remember that the effective purse size for Knight Riders is significantly smaller than the INR 19.5 crore stated above when taken as a whole due to the addition of Shardul, Gurbaz, and Ferguson as well as the loss of Aman Khan.
Players released: Pat Cummins (INR 7.25 crore), Sam Billings (INR 2 crore), Aman Khan (INR 20 lakh), Shivam Mavi (INR 7.25 crore), Mohammad Nabi (INR 1 crore), Chamika Karunaratne (INR 50 lakh), Aaron Finch (INR 1.5 crore), Alex Hales (INR 1.5 crore), Abhijeet Tomar (INR 40 lakh), Ajinkya Rahane (INR 1 crore), Ashok Sharma (INR 20 lakh), Baba Indrajith (INR 20 lakh), Pratham Singh (INR 20 lakh), Ramesh Kumar (INR 20 lakh), Rasikh Salam (INR 20 lakh), Sheldon Jackson (INR 20 lakh)
Players acquired via trades: Shardul Thakur, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Lockie Ferguson
Current squad: Shreyas Iyer (capt), 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 –ANI
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