Shreyas Iyer Was No.1 Choice But...: KKR CEO REVEALS Reason Why IPL 2024 Winning Captain Was Released

All eyes were on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as to who they would retain and released from IPL 2024 winning squad on the Retention Deadline Day before the IPL 2025 mega auction. The big news that came in was that their title-winning captain Shreyas Iyer did not feature among their six retentions. Iyer thus became the first-ever defending IPL captain to be released by a franchise. However, the franchise's CEO Venky Mysore has now finally revealed what went behind the release of Iyer ahead of the mega auction.

Shreyas Iyer Was No.1 On Out List: Venky MysoreIn an interaction with RevSportz, KKR CEO Venky Mysore hinted that the franchise and Shreyas Iyer did not mutually agree on the money that the star batter was asking for him to be retained. He even revealed that Iyer was no.1 on the list of players that KKR wanted to retain.“The interesting thing about retention is that there are so many aspects to it and forces as play. But what is fundamental to a retention that most people sometimes don’t understand that it’s a matter of mutually agreeing. It’s not a one-sided right that a franchise has. The player also has to consider various factors and agree. Sometimes along the line that agreement doesn’t happen because of various factors; money or somebody wants to test their value or whatever it is. That influences a decision as well, eventually, but he was No.1 on our list,” Mysore said. Which Players Did KKR Retain?Kolkata Knight Riders have made Rinku Singh their most expensive retention with Rs 13 crore, followed by Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, and Varun Chakravarthy, each of whom received Rs 12 crore. KKR made two uncapped retentions in the form of Ramandeep Singh and Harshit Rana. With six retentions announced, KKR became only one of the two teams that head into the mega auction with .Kolkata Knight Riders will go into the IPL 2025 mega auction with a purse of Rs 51 crore.