IPL 2024: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) spent their money wisely on Tuesday (December 19) to bag smart buys that can do wonders for them in the forthcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024). KKR went into the IPL 2024 auction with a purse of INR 32.70 crore (USD 3.92 million approx.) and spent the money on certain players who can be the dark horses for them in the upcoming edition, capable of springing plenty of surprises.
KKR created history by signing Australian cricketer Mitchell Starc with an all-time record bid. Kolkata spent INR 24.75 crore to sign Starc after an intense bidding war with Gujarat Titans. KKR's maiden bid came for Rovaman Powell but Rajasthan Royals emerged winners for the Caribbean star's signature. KKR also failed to sign Chris Woakes after showing an initial interest.
Indian wicketkeeper batter KS Bharat emerged as Kolkata's first successful signing for INR 50 lakh. Young pacer Chetan Sakariya also joined the team for a base price of INR 50 lakh. Kolkata remained quiet after bagging Starc's signature but showed an impressive comeback to sign Angkrish Raghuvanshi (20 lakh), Ramandeep Singh (20 lakh), Sherfane Rutherford (1.5 crore), Manish Pandey (50 lakh), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (2 crore), Gus Atkinson (1 crore), Sakib Hussain (20 lakh) in the last round (all for base price).
KKR signed ten players, more than any other team, in the IPL auction 2024 to fill 23 of 25 available slots with a remaining purse of INR 1.35 crore.
KKR Squad for IPL 2024
Retained Players: Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana (vc), Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Jason Roy, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Suyash Sharma, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy
New Signings: KS Bharat, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Gus Atkinson, Sakib Hussain
