Kolkata Knight Riders had the highest purse value among 10 teams at the auction table. As predicted, they picked the two most expensive players in this season’s auction. The 2024 winner spent INR 25.20 crore for Australian all-rounder Cameron Green and INR 18 crore for Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana.
The team picked up a total of 13 players in the auction. They bought Rahul Tripathi and Tim Seifert for their base price. Both players have been a part of the KKR franchise in the past. The team shelled out INR 9.20 crore for Mustafizur Rahman and INR 3 crore for uncapped wicketkeeper-batter Tejasvi Dahiya. The remaining seven players were purchased for their base price.
KKR finished in eighth place last season after winning five out of 14 games.
Ajinkya Rahane is likely to lead the side once again this season. The three-time champions had a lot of issues last season, and they have managed to address all of them in the auction. Before the auction, the team released Andre Russell and Venkatesh Iyer.
Russell has been appointed as the power coach by the franchise. Abhishek Nayar has been appointed the head coach of the team. Shane Watson has been onboarded as the assistant coach, and Tim Southee is the new bowling coach of the team.
Players bought in IPL 2026 Auction:
| Players Bought | Price (INR) |
|---|---|
| Akash Deep | 1 crore |
| Rachin Ravindra | 2 crore |
| Daksh Kamra | 30 lakh |
| Sarthak Ranjan | 30 lakh |
| Tejasvi Dahiya | 3 crore |
| Mustafizur Rahman | 9.20 crore |
| Tim Seifert | 1.50 crore |
| Rahul Tripathi | 75 lakh |
| Prashant Solanki | 30 lakh |
| Kartik Tyagi | 30 lakh |
| Matheesha Pathirana | 18 crore |
| Finn Allen | 2 crore |
| Cameron Green | 25.20 crore |
Here is KKR’s squad for IPL 2026:
Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Vaibhav Arora, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Umran Malik, Anukul Roy, Akash Deep, Rachin Ravindra, Daksh Kamra, Sarthak Ranjan, Tejasvi Dahiya (wk), Mustafizur Rahman, Tim Seifert (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Prashant Solanki, Kartik Tyagi, Matheesha Pathirana, Finn Allen (wk), Cameron Green
