IPL 2025 Auction: 3 players KKR might target

Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders requested BCCI officials to postpone the mega-auction to a later year or allow each franchise to retain the majority of their players. The officials allowed each team to retain a maximum of six players including at least one uncapped player, which might have upset KKR management as they had to let go of some of their key players.

KKR retained Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh for the next season. They have INR 51 crore available to spend in the auction and here are three cricketers that the franchise might target in the auction:

3. T Natarajan

India pacer T Natarajan has done a commendable job in the shortest format of the game. In IPL 2024, the 33-year-old picked up 19 wickets in 14 games at an economy of 9.05, which is excellent given the home games of Sunrisers Hyderabad were extremely high-scoring ones. KKR would look to strengthen their Indian bowling group and Natarajan fits the bill. He can solve their death-bowling issues.

2. Ishan Kishan

KKR has released Phil Salt ahead of the IPL 2025 mega-auction. The three-time champions would look for a similar profile in the auction and Kishan can be the right player. Top-order dynamic batter, keeper, and a potential future captain, the 26-year-old can be on KKR’s radar.

1. Jos Buttler

Rajasthan Royals released Jos Buttler ahead of the mega-auction. It was a major surprise but can benefit KKR. Buttler can be made the captain as well after Shreyas Iyer was released. He has played 107 games in the cash-rich league, scoring 3582 at a strike rate of 147.52. He is a proven candidate and has a profile that KKR would want. Like Kishan, he can keep a top-order batter, who can open alongside Sunil Narine.