IPL is a ruthless business. The quicker a team realises that, the better.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) seemed to have gotten to that realisation now. The three-time champions made one of the most surprising calls of the pre-IPL 2026 auction business by releasing Andre Russell.
The West Indian all-rounder is not only one of the best to have ever graced the game, but he has also been KKR’s most loyal servant for the entirety of his IPL career. He admits KKR made him who he is and remembers that the team stood with him through everything from his early controversies to recent fitness issues.
Even by cricketing logic, Russell is so difficult to let go. Everyone knows his brutal batting ability, but he’s also an underrated bowler in the middle-overs,
with 27 wickets to his name in the last two seasons.
However, if there was ever a time to pull that bandage off, it was now. Below, we analyse why it is the right call.
Russell is 37; his value couldn’t be Rs. 12 crore
Russell is currently 37 and will be 38 during the 2026 season. Despite his supreme fitness, he’ll only get more injury-prone from now on, especially considering he has completely given up on international cricket.
According to some reports, KKR had offered Russell for trade before the retention deadline but found no takers, which tells you a lot about how teams value him. An expense of Rs. 12 crore on such a player is a lot.
KKR will go to the mini-auction with the highest budget by far, and only a few gaps to fill, mainly in the wicketkeeper and fast-bowling departments. Depending on where Russell comes in the auction, they can always easily beat the competition and sign him back at a cheaper price, while using the spare elsewhere.
KKR are stacked in the finishing department
Outside of Russell’s ability, demand and supply also determine his price at KKR. Even before the auction, they have three players who can recreate his batting ability: Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, and Ramandeep Singh.
It’s not a priority department for them. It’s not where they failed last season, either, which was more due to an imbalanced top-order and a lack of quality in the bowling attack.
Currently, their 11 (without any wicketkeepers, of course) looks like this: Ajinkya Rahane, Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora and Umran Malik.
Any more finishers that KKR get in the auction can be cheaper, back-up options. Their auction focus would need to be on getting an upgrade on Anukul (someone like Cameron Green) and a top-order wicketkeeper to replace Rahane and bat alongside Narine, and the team would have a much better look, quality-wise.
More balanced team
The IPL 2024-winning KKR side was so good because a) most of their players batted and most bowled, too and b) almost the entire team was in good form. In that team, Russell never batted in a run chase because he wasn’t needed to; similarly, Rinku Singh hardly got to bat at all.
In IPL 2025, both were regularly needed to bat, and Russel’s entry point caused major issues for KKR because both needed the same treatment — send them up when the team is doing well and hold them back when there’s a collapse. Without Russell, KKR can give their lower-order keys to Rinku, allow him to be flexible, and keep Powell and Ramandeep purely for the last five overs.
The overs they’d lose without Russell could be easily adjusted by someone like Green. Afterall, in the ‘Impact Player’ era, the sixth bowler is no longer as big an issue as it used to be.
