Kolkata Knight Riders decided to retain Andre Russell (12cr), Sunil Narine (6 cr), Varun Chakravarthy (8 cr) and Venkatesh Iyer (8) ahead of IPL 2022 mega auction. In the process, they invested 34 crores. They now have a purse of 48 crores remaining ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction. Meanwhile, KKR coach Brendon McCullum has reacted to the team’s retentions.
He said that KKR were lucky to retain the four players with different skill sets which is difficult to find in any other team.
“I think the four guys that we have – Narine, Russell, Chakravarthy and Venkatesh Iyer – in them we have four skill-sets that are not easily available in any kind of auction situation. The guys tick off some skill-sets that are rare and I feel very lucky to have been able to secure those guys.”
The Guys Tick Off Some Required Skillsets: Brendon McCullum
McCullum spoke about another good aspect of the retentions by Kolkata Knight Riders. He said they have picked two players who had been with KKR for a long period of time and two more who are promising talents.
𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘾𝙃𝙊𝙎𝙀𝙉 𝙁𝙊𝙐𝙍 🙌
Andre Russell, Varun Chakaravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer & Sunil Narine have been retained for the upcoming IPL season ✍️#KKR #AmiKKR #GalaxyOfKnights #WeTheFuture #IPLRetention pic.twitter.com/80x2cT1YtC
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) November 30, 2021
“Another good aspect is that two of them have been at KKR for a long period of time and then you’ve got both Varun Chakravarthy and Venkatesh Iyer who have been here a couple of years and are obviously really developing and emerging talents. We are very fortunate to be in the position we are in,” McCullum said.
Meanwhile, the side will need to look for a captain in the IPL 2022 mega auction after parting with both Eoin Morgan and Dinesh Karthik. They have also released Pat Cummins in the retentions. He has just now been appointed as the next Test captain for Australia ahead of the Ashes series.
KKR CEO Venky Mysore that retaining the four players helps them to form the nucleus of the franchise on which they would like to build on the future.
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