Full list of KKR released and retained players ahead of IPL 2024 auction

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have retained most of their core, including Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, and released almost every fringe player ahead of the IPL 2024 auction. The two-time champions finished seventh last season.

The West Indian faces of the franchise, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, have both been retained. KKR has also received a boost with skipper Shreyas Iyer's return.

The biggest releases are all-rounders Shardul Thakur and Shakib al Hasan. The team traded in the former for IPL 2023 from Delhi Capitals but the change didn't quite work out. Shakib, on the other hand, has been associated with the franchise for a long time but couldn't contribute much in important moments last season.

The New Zealand pace duo of Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson also found themselves out of favor with the team. They also released Indian speedster Umesh Yadav and domestic star Kulwant Khejroliya.

This leaves the team pretty short in the fast-bowling department and it will need to be their main focus at the IPL 2024 auction. The batting core is quite similar but could do with good backups who provide balance and versatility.

For that, they have one of the biggest available purses for the auction - ₹ 32.7 crore.

How they fill their remaining four overseas spots could define their campaign. Australian World Cup-winning duo of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, both of whom have either played for them previously or have been on the radar, could be the ones to watch out for.

KKR released players

Shakib Al Hasan, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Johnson Charles, Litton Das, Aarya Desai, David Wiese, Narayan Jagadeesan, Mandeep Singh and Kulwant Khejroliya.

KKR retained players

Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Jason Roy, Sunil Narine, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora and Varun Chakaravarthy.