2025 Kolkata Knight Riders season

Kolkata Knight Riders

2025 season
Coach	Chandrakant Pandit
Captain	Ajinkya Rahane
Ground(s)	Eden Gardens
← 2024 2026 →

The 2025 season will be the 18th appearance for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. They are one of the ten teams competing this year and will enter as the defending champions after defeating the Sunrisers Hyderabad by 8 wickets in the previous edition's final, ending a 10-year trophy drought. ^{[1] [2]}

Background

Pre-Auction

Retentions

The player retentions were announced by the teams on October 31, 2024. ^[3] The Kolkata Knight Riders utilized their entire retention capacity and retained six players: four capped and two uncapped. They have a remaining budget of ₹51 crore (US$5.9 million) and no Right-To-Match (RTM) option available.

Players retained

Player	Salary
Rinku Singh [4]	₹13 crore (US$1.5 million)
Sunil Narine	₹12 crore (US$1.4 million)
Varun Chakravarthy [5]	₹12 crore (US$1.4 million)
Andre Russell	₹12 crore (US$1.4 million)
Harshit Rana [6]	₹4 crore (US$460,000)
Ramandeep Singh	₹4 crore (US$460,000)

Releases

Kolkata Knight Riders released 17 players ahead of the Mega-Auction, ^[7] including its title-winning captain, Shreyas Iyer. ^[8]

Players released pre-auction

Role	Players
Batters	Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer
Wicket-keepers	KS Bharat, Phil Salt, Rahmanullah Gurbaz
All-rounders	Anukul Roy, Sherfane Rutherford, Venkatesh Iyer
Pace bowlers	Chetan Sakariya, Dushmantha Chameera, Mitchell Starc, Sakib Hussain, Vaibhav Arora
Spin bowlers	Allah Ghazanfar, Suyash Sharma

Before the 2025 Mega Auction, the Knight Riders organised a mock auction to understand the fans' choices and the best team will get a chance to conduct a meeting with the KKR Think Tank. ^{[9] [10]}

Support staff changes

Gautam Gambhir was appointed as the head coach of the Indian cricket team, ^[11] which prevented him from assisting the Knight Riders in the future. As a result, Dwayne Bravo, who has connections with the Knight Riders family from his time playing for the Trinbago Knight Riders, was appointed as the new mentor. Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate also joined Gambhir as the assistant coaches of the Indian team respectively.

Support staff changes of Kolkata Knight Riders

Position	Outgoing	Incoming	Ref
Mentor	Gautam Gambhir	Dwayne Bravo	[12]
Assistant coach	Abhishek Nayar	TBA
Fielding coach	Ryan ten Doeschate	TBA

Squad

• Players with international caps are listed in bold.
• Given ages are as of 1 January 2025 (2025-01-01).

Squad for the 2025 Indian Premier League

No	Name	Nationality	Birth date and age	Batting style	Bowling style	Year signed	Salary	Notes
Batters
35	Rinku Singh	India	(1997-10-12)12 October 1997 (aged 27)	Left-handed	Right-arm off break	2018	₹13 crore (US$1.5 million)
18	Angkrish Raghuvanshi	India	(2004-06-05)5 June 2004 (aged 20)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break	2024	₹3 crore (US$350,000)
3	Ajinkya Rahane	India	(1988-06-06)6 June 1988 (aged 36)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium	2025	₹1.5 crore (US$170,000)
37	Manish Pandey	India	(1989-09-10)10 September 1989 (aged 35)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium	2024	₹75 lakh (US$87,000)
Wicket-keepers
—	Luvnith Sisodia	India	(2000-01-15)15 January 2000 (aged 24)	Left-handed	—	2025	₹30 lakh (US$35,000)
21	Rahmanullah Gurbaz	Afghanistan	(2001-11-28)28 November 2001 (aged 23)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium fast	2023	₹2 crore (US$230,000)	Overseas
—	Quinton de Kock	South Africa	(1992-12-17)17 December 1992 (aged 32)	Left-handed	—	2025	₹3.6 crore (US$420,000)	Overseas
All-rounders
12	Andre Russell	West Indies	(1988-04-29)29 April 1988 (aged 36)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium	2014	₹12 crore (US$1.4 million)	Overseas
19	Ramandeep Singh	India	(1997-04-13)13 April 1997 (aged 27)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium	2024	₹4 crore (US$460,000)
25	Venkatesh Iyer	India	(1994-12-25)25 December 1994 (aged 30)	Left-handed	Right-arm medium pace	2021	₹23.75 crore (US$2.7 million)
6	Anukul Roy	India	(1998-11-30)30 November 1998 (aged 26)	Left-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox	2022	₹40 lakh (US$46,000)
18	Moeen Ali	England	(1987-06-18)18 June 1987 (aged 37)	Left-handed	Right-arm off break	2025	₹2 crore (US$230,000)	Overseas
52	Rovman Powell	West Indies	(1993-07-23)23 July 1993 (aged 31)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium	2025	₹1.5 crore (US$170,000)	Overseas
74	Sunil Narine	West Indies	(1988-05-26)26 May 1988 (aged 36)	Left-handed	Right-arm off break	2012	₹12 crore (US$1.4 million)	Overseas
Pace bowlers
—	Anrich Nortje	South Africa	(1993-11-16)16 November 1993 (aged 31)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast	2025	₹6.5 crore (US$750,000)	Overseas
54	Shardul Thakur [13]	India	(1991-10-16)16 October 1991 (aged 33)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium-fast	2025
14	Vaibhav Arora	India	(1997-12-14)14 December 1997 (aged 27)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast medium	2021	₹1.8 crore (US$210,000)
22	Harshit Rana	India	(2001-12-22)22 December 2001 (aged 23)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast medium	2022	₹4 crore (US$460,000)
21	Umran Malik	India	(1999-11-22)22 November 1999 (aged 25)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast	2025	₹75 lakh (US$87,000)
45	Spencer Johnson	Australia	(1995-12-16)16 December 1995 (aged 29)	Left-handed	Left-arm fast	2025	₹2.8 crore (US$320,000)	Overseas
Spin bowlers
11	Mayank Markande	India	(1997-11-11)11 November 1997 (aged 27)	Right-handed	Right-arm leg break	2025	₹30 lakh (US$35,000)
29	Varun Chakravarthy	India	(1991-08-29)29 August 1991 (aged 33)	Right-handed	Right-arm leg break	2020	₹12 crore (US$1.4 million)

Administration and support staff

Position	Name
Head / Director of Cricket	Venky Mysore
Team manager	Wayne Bentley
Head coach	Chandrakant Pandit
Batting coach	TBA
Bowling coach	Bharat Arun
Fielding coach	TBA
Mentor	Dwayne Bravo

League stage

Points table

Pos	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	NR	Pts	NRR	Qualification
1	A	Chennai Super Kings	0	0	0	0	0	—	Advance to Qualifier 1
2	B	Delhi Capitals	0	0	0	0	0	—
3	B	Gujarat Titans	0	0	0	0	0	—	Advance to Eliminator
4	A	Kolkata Knight Riders	0	0	0	0	0	—
5	B	Lucknow Super Giants	0	0	0	0	0	—
6	B	Mumbai Indians	0	0	0	0	0	—
7	A	Punjab Kings	0	0	0	0	0	—
8	A	Rajasthan Royals	0	0	0	0	0	—
9	A	Royal Challengers Bengaluru	0	0	0	0	0	—
10	B	Sunrisers Hyderabad	0	0	0	0	0	—

First match(es) will be played: 22 March 2025. Source: ESPNcricinfo ^[14]

League progression

League progression

Team	Group matches														Playoffs
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Q1/E	Q2	F
Kolkata Knight Riders

Win

Loss

No result

• Note: The total points at the end of each group match are listed.
• Note: Click on the points (group matches) or W/L (playoffs) to see the match summary.

Fixtures and results

All times are in Indian Standard Time (UTC+05:30)

Match 1 22 March 2025 (2025-03-22) 19:30 (N) Scorecard

Kolkata Knight Riders (H)	v	Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Eden Gardens, Kolkata

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References

1. "KKR's bowlers rip through SRH to win third IPL title". ESPNcricinfo. 26 May 2024. Archived from the original on 26 May 2024. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
2. "KKR vs SRH Cricket Scorecard, Final at Chennai, May 26, 2024". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
3. "Deadline For Submission Of Retention List For IPL 2025 Auction Revealed". ABP News . 29 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
4. "Rinku Singh reacts after KKR retain him for IPL 2025". India Today . 31 October 2024. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
5. "From World Cup Setback To KKR Star: Varun Chakravarthy's Rise As The IPL's New 'Mystery Spinner'". News24 . 9 November 2024. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
6. "How Can KKR Retain Harshit Rana As Uncapped Indian Player Even If He Makes India Debut In IND vs NZ 3rd Test?". Zee News . 30 October 2024. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
7. "KKR IPL 2025 retained and released players list". The Indian Express . 29 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
8. "IPL-winning captain Shreyas Iyer fails to find spot in KKR retention list". India Today . 31 October 2024. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
9. "Kolkata Knight Riders Re-Sign Shreyas Iyer For Rs 4.4 Crore In IPL Mock Auction, Mitchell Starc Returns For 8". Times Now . 17 November 2024. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
10. "IPL 2025 Auction Update: Rishabh Pant Breaks All Records, KKR's Stunning Bid for Jos Buttler and a Surprise Deal for Shreyas Iyer!". Times Bull . 17 November 2024. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
11. "Mr Gautam Gambhir appointed as Head Coach - BCCI". Board of Control for Cricket in India . 9 July 2024. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
12. "DJ Bravo joins Kolkata Knight Riders as mentor". Kolkata Knight Riders . 27 September 2024.
13. "Despite being unsold in the auction, Shardul Thakur's luck opened up, he is making a grand entry into the KKR team!!". Sportzwiki.
14. 2025 Indian Premier League points table standings at ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 26 January 2025.

External links

• Official website
• Kolkata Knight Riders on IPLT20 Website
• 2025 IPL Teams  at  ESPNcricinfo