IPL 2025 Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Full Squad List Explained

December 26, 2024 Adesh Kothari

Multiple Captain options available in our official squad and players list for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for IPL 2025.

The IPL 2024 champions, and one of the only 3 teams to have 3 or more trophies, KKR had a clear strategy in place of IPL 2025. The team not only retained most of their core, but also bought many quality existing players from the Auction. While the overall strategy felt really good, the team will rue the loss of their trophy-winning Captain, Shreyas Iyer. The team didn’t retain Iyer, but did make all possible efforts to buy him back in the Auction.

While KKR couldn’t buy Shreyas Iyer, the team invested a hefty amount in buying another Iyer, Venkatesh. Venkatesh’s price broke all barriers during the Auction as the talented left-hander fetched INR 23.75 Cr. It does feel like a complete overstretch, but he was in huge demand at the auction. I’m not sure what problem Venkatesh is going to solve for KKR as his batting is decent, he doesn’t bowl much, and he doesn’t have Captaincy experience.

Nevertheless, barring the Iyer goof-up, KKR did manage to build a strong a strong squad. The team has a near-to-identical playing 11 as that of IPL 2024. Overall, KKR went lean on their squad with only 21 names in the squad. The team has 6 batters, 6 all-rounders, 2 wicket-keepers, and 7 bowlers in the side. So, here’s the complete squad list breakup for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for the Indian Premier League 2025.

IPL 2025 Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Official Squad List Breakup

Existing Players KKR Added

The Kolkata Knight Riders might be the only team that has not only retained all of their existing players, but also bought 6 more of them in the Auction. Ahead of the Auction, KKR retained the likes of Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, and Ramandeep Singh. Given such superb retentions, KKR were able to buy 6 more existing players in the form of Anukul Roy, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Vaibhav Arora, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Manish Pandey, and Venkatesh Iyer.

New Players that KKR Added

With 12 of their existing players already in the squad, KKR did add some brilliant names in the squad in the Auction. Among the quality Overseas players that KKR added are Anrich Nortje, Quinton de Kock, Rovman Powell, Moeen Ali, and Spencer Johnson. Whereas among Indian players, KKR added Umran Malik, Ajinkya Rahane, Mayank Markande, and Luvnith Sisodiya.

IPL 2025 Full Official Squad and Players List for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

Batters

Ajinkya Rahane
Angkrish Raghuvanshi
Luvnith Sisodiya
Manish Pandey
Rinku Singh
Rovman Powell (o)

Wicket-keepers

Quinton de Kock (o)
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (o)

All-rounders

Andre Russell (o)
Anukul Roy
Moeen Ali (o)
Ramandeep Singh
Sunil Narine (o)
Venkatesh Iyer

Bowlers

Anrich Nortje (o)
Harshit Rana
Mayank Markande
Spencer Johnson (o)
Umran Malik
Vaibhav Arora
Varun Chakravarthy

So, that’s about the complete squad list for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for IPL 2025. Talking about KKR’s strongest playing 11 for IPL 2025, we are looking at Sunil Narine and Quinton de Kock as openers. The middle-order should see Ajinkya Rahane at 3, Venkatesh Iyer at 4, and Rinku Singh at 5. The finishing duties shall rely on Andre Russell and Ramandeep Singh. Whereas the bowling should depend on Anrich Nortje, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, and Varun Chakravarthy. The impact player should be Anukul Roy, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Mayank Markande, or Umran Malik depending on the match situation.