1. Players released
Anrich Nortje, Carlos Brathwaite, Chris Lynn, Joe Denly, KC Cariappa, Matt Kelly, Nikhil Naik, Piyush Chawla, Prithvi Raj Yarra, Robin Uthappa, Shrikant Mundhe.
2. Why they were released
Robin Uthappa had an underwhelming season often struggling to force the pace and was under severe criticism despite part of KKR's title run twice. But sentiments hardly rule in a league like IPL. Similar cases were offered by Piyush Chawla, a long-standing KKR player, all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite, England man Joe Denly etc.
3. Players retained
The core players like captain Dinesh Karthik, Lockie Ferguson, Kuldeep Yadav Sunil Narine, Andre Russel were retained by the Kolkata outfit.
4. Purse available
Kolkata Knight Riders had a healthy Rs 6.5 crore left in their purse after the IPL 2019 auction. The Kolkata side has earned a little over Rs 26 crore via releasing 12 players and there is additional Rs 3 crore from the BCCI side. Now, they can spend Rs 35.65 crore in the IPL 2020 auction next month.