Kolkata Knight Riders Retained and Released Players List 2022: KKR retain Russell, Narine, Iyer & Chakravarthy

For
the
upcoming
edition,
teams
can
retain
a
maximum
of
four
players,
while
the
rest
will
go
under
the
hammer.
The
deadline
for
teams
to
turn
in
their
retention
list
was
on
Tuesday,
and
Kolkata
Knight
Riders
named
four
players
to
be
retained
for
the
upcoming
edition.

While
the
Knights
let
go
off
both
former
skipper
Dinesh
Karthik
and
current
skipper
Eoin
Morgan,
the
former
champions
retained
two
foreign
players
and
two
Indian
players.

The
Knight
Riders,
who
pulled
off
a
dream
comeback
in
the
previous
edition
and
missed
out
on
their
third
title,
losing
to
Chennai
Super
Kings
in
the
final,
retained
seasoned
Windies
campaigners
Andre
Russell
and
Sunil
Narine,
along
with
Varun
Chakravarthy
and
Venkatesh
Iyer.

Here’s
why
the
Kolkata
outfit,
the
runners-up
of
the
previous
edition,
chose
to
retain
the
four,
and
let
a
few
others
go.
They
have
Rs
48
crore
left
in
purse
for
the
mega
auction.

Varun
Chakravarthy:
The
right-arm
spinner
was
the
Knights
highest
wicket-taker.
Chakravarthy
bowled
at
an
economy
of
6.58
and
picked
up
18
wickets
for
the
Kolkata
team
in
the
previous
edition
of
the
IPL.
Chakravarthy
has
enjoyed
two
back-to-back
successful
seasons
for
the
Knight
Riders
and
furthermore,
with
the
tournament
set
to
return
to
the
country,
where
spinners
enjoy
a
good
hunting
ground,
there’s
no
point
in
elaborating
the
depth
and
value
he
brings
to
the
squad.

Andre
Russell:
The
West
Indies
player
is
one
of
the
most
dangerous
all
rounders
and
a
destructive
T20
player.
Had
the
player
gone
under
the
hammer,
the
Windies
cricketer
would
have
been
a
hot
pick.
Russell
has
turned
it
around
for
the
Knight
Riders
on
several
occasions
with
both
bat
and
ball
and
having
him
in
the
line-up
always
puts
the
opposition
on
their
toes.
In
the
previous
edition
Russell
picked
up
11
wickets
for
KKR,
which
included
a
5-wicket
and
smashed
188
runs
in
10
innings.

Sunil
Narine:
The
Knights
have
retained
two
lethal
West
Indies
player.
A
lethal
spinner
who
has
over
the
years
emerged
as
a
powerful
batsman
has
been
crucial
in
the
Kolkata
line-up
and
his
retention
does
not
come
as
a
suprise.
In
the
previous
edition,
Narine
finished
behind
Chakravarthy
in
the
wicket-takers
list
for
the
Knights.
The
West
Indies
all
rounder
picked
up
16
wickets
from
14
games.

Venkatesh
Iyer:
In
a
season,
where
the
Knights
pulled
off
a
dream
turnaround,
Iyer
was
a
key
cog
in
the
wheel,
as
he
broke
into
the
scene
with
both
bat
and
ball.
In
the
previous
edition
of
the
IPL,
Iyer
scored
a
whopping
370
runs
and
also
picked
up
three
wickets.
Iyer’s
impressive
show
earned
him
a
national
call-up.
The
all-rounder
who
is
seen
as
a
replacement
for
Hardik
Pandya
in
the
Indian
line-up,
would
have
been
one
of
the
most-seeked
after
players
had
he
gone
under
the
hammer.
Retaining
the
youngster,
will
see
Iyer
add
a
lot
of
value
to
the
squad
with
both
bat
and
ball.

Who
all
KKR
released:

Eoin
Morgan,
Dinesh
Karthik,
Tim
Seifert,
Kuldeep
Yadav,
Tim
Southee,
Lockie
Ferguson,
Kamlesh
Nagarkoti,
Shivam
Mavi,
Sandeep
Warrier,
Prasidh
Krishna,
Shakib
Al
Hasan,
Sheldon
Jackson,
Vaibhav
Arora,
Karun
Nair,
Harbhajan
Singh,
Gajendra
Singh,
Ben
Cutting,
Pawan
Negi,
Nitish
Rana,
Shubman
Gill,
Gurkeerat
Singh
Mann,
Rahul
Tripathi