The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) entered the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 player auction with the fattest purse of Rs 64.30 crore and they literally bullied every other franchise. They got what they wanted, spending a handsome Rs 52.40 crore for buying Cameron Green, Matheesha Pathirana and Mustafizur Rahman. A complete rejig of the squad, yet kudos to them for retaining their Indian core.
KKR did lose Venkatesh Iyer, who has joined RCB for Rs 7 crore. Cameron Green will replace him in the squad, which is a great upgrade. Green is a generational talent and could be the face of the franchise going forward. No, he isn’t a direct Andre Russell replacement, who retired from the IPL before the auction. Russell’s skillset cannot be replaced. Green is that sort of a player but to get the best out of him, he should be slotted within the top four.
KKR team at IPL 2026: A complete team?
The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have underratedly built a superb team. They have almost all the bases covered, with batting going as deep as Harshit Rana batting at number nine. This is if KKR continue to open with Sunil Narine. Last year, Narine couldn’t find an opening partner, with Quinton de Kock and Rahmanullah Gurbaz swapping roles. But his best bet should be to open with Ajinkya Rahane.
You can make full use of Narine’s batting potential with him batting as an opener. Rahane. Meanwhile, he can be a destructor in the powerplay. His pace-hitting is quite strong and hence the duo can go helter-skelter without a second thought. Yes, KKR have signed two overseas keeper-batters in Finn Allen and Tim Seifert and the duo can be tested if the Narine-Rahane combination fails.
At three should be KKR’s scouted talent in Angkrish Raghuvanshi. He should bat no lower than three and this could be a breakout season for the youngster. More about Raghuvanshi below. Manish Pandey and Rahul Tripathi are other options as backup. At four is the costliest overseas player in history, Cameron Green. He powers the middle-order big time, as he has a record of 347 runs at 57.83 and at a superb SR of 162.14 while batting at four for Australia.
Responsibility on Rinku and Rovman
To provide firepower in the finishing department post-Russell era, responsibilities would be on Rinku Singh and Rovman Powell. Rinku’s batting wasn’t utilised fully last year, as he faced just 134 balls in the entire season. He can be a superb number five, with West Indian Powell coming at six. This year, he has scored 1107 T20 runs at 31.62 and at SR of 157.69.
Now comes an interesting choice at number seven. So far, there is no keeper in the team and hence KKR have to include Delhi youngster Tejasvi Singh. He is an able keeper with a T20 strike rate of 168.65. However, it must be noted that if Raghuvanshi gets involved as a keeper-batter, there would be no need of Tejasvi. Raghuvanshi hasn’t kept for Mumbai or in the IPL and it might be a risk. But if he keeps, KKR can surely add Anukul Roy at number seven. Roy has been in incredible form for Jharkhand, hammering 163 at 81.50 alongside some wickets to his name.
| S. No. | Player | Backup Player |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ajinkya Rahane (C) | Sarthak Ranjan |
| 2 | Sunil Narine✈️ | Finn Allen ✈️/Rachin Ravindra ✈️ |
| 3 | Angkrish Raghuvanshi | Manish Pandey/Rahul Tripathi |
| 4 | Cameron Green ✈️ | Tim Seifert ✈️ |
| 5 | Rinku Singh | |
| 6 | Rovman Powell ✈️ | |
| 7 | Tejasvi Singh (wk), Anukul Roy | Tejasvi Singh (wk), Anukul Roy |
| 8 | Ramandeep Singh | |
| 9 | Harshit Rana | Akash Deep |
| 10 | Varun Chakaravarthy | Prashant Solanki/Daksh Kamra |
| 11 | Vaibhav Arora | Karthik Tyagi/Umran Malik |
| 12 (Impact player) | Matheesha Pathirana ✈️ | Mustafizur Rahman ✈️ |
Ramandeep Singh is a sureshot finishing option. After 91 T20s, the former Mumbai Indians (MI) all-rounder has a strike rate of 171.90 and he completes the batting unit with aplomb. Now, in these first eight players, KKR already have four bowling options, with two being Narine and Green. If Anukul plays, he is a banker. Ramandeep can chip in with a couple of overs too. Now, there are four specialist bowlers, including three first-choice specialists in Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora and Matheesha Pathirana. Varun Chakaravarthy, world No. 1 T20I ranked bowler is the spearhead as well.
Full KKR squad for IPL 2026
Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Cameron Green, Tejasvi Singh, Finn Allen, Karthik Tyagi, Prashant Solanki, Tim Seifert, Rahul Tripathi, Mustafizur Rahman, Daksh Kamra, Rachin Ravindra, Akash Deep, Matheesha Pathirana, Sarthak Ranjan
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