IPL 2021: Kolkata Knight Riders: Full list of retained and release players

Bengaluru, Jan 20: Ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) auctions for the 2021 season, there were speculations that the Kolkata Knight Riders would let go of their former skipper Dinesh Karthik.

On Wednesday, the Knights ended the rumours as they released the list of retained and released players ahead of the auctions next month, and former skipper Karthik had been retained by the franchise. The Knights did not make too many changes for the upcoming edition as they released only five players, while retaining 17 players.

During the 2020 edition of the T20 extravaganza, Karthik had stepped down from captaincy in the middle of the season, handing over the reigns to World Cup winning England skipper Eoin Morgan. Morgan has been included in the list of retained players along with the likes of Pat Cummins, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.

Meanwhile, Kuldeep Yadav who had lost his regular place in the playing XI, looked set to lose his place in the franchise. But the Kolkata franchise kept their faith in the India bowler and included him in the squad for the upcoming season.

Meanwhile, amongst the players that were let go off by the franchise, England opener Tom Banton was released. The other players released by the franchise include, M Siddharth, Nikhil Naik, Siddhesh Lad and Chris Green.

In the last edition, the Knights finished with 14 points from as many matches, but missed out on a playoff spot due to a poor run rate.

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Players Retained:

Indian Players:

Dinesh Karthik, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy

Overseas Players:

Eoin Morgan (C), Andre Russell, Lockie Ferguson, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Tim Seifert

Players Released:

Indian players:

M Siddharth, Nikhil Naik, Siddhesh Lad

Overseas players:

Chris Green, Tom Banton