IPL 2026 Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Team Dream Squad List

With Cameron Green and Ben Duckett, the key targets, let’s explore the dream squad and best players list for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. 

After the Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings teams, the Kolkata Knight Riders team is the most successful Indian Premier League franchise with 3 IPL titles to their name. While two titles came under the Captaincy of Gautam Gambhir in 2012 and 2014, the third one came almost a decade later in 2024, once again under the indirect leadership of Gautam Gambhir and Shreyas Iyer as the Captain.

However, after tasting success in IPL 2024, KKR disappointed, not only as a team in IPL 2025 but also from a management standpoint. Since IPL 2025 was a Mega Auction, KKR’s strategy felt completely out of place. The team let go of their IPL-winning Captain Shreyas Iyer for unknown reasons, couldn’t find a potential leader in the Auction, and decided to spend almost 24 Cr on a player who isn’t even worthy of 5 Cr in the team.

Having committed such a gaffe, the result was visible in KKR’s performance in IPL 2025. But a fresh year awaits KKR, and they do have a chance to rectify their mistakes. The team will get a good opportunity in the Mini Auction to overcome their weakness. But before that, the team will have to make some tough decisions with their retentions and releases. So, let’s analyse the current squad for Kolkata Knight Riders, and find out the Dream squad list for KKR for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. 

KKR Performance from IPL 2025 Discussed

Before we get into the Dream squad findings, let’s revisit the 2025 performance, and identify the gaps that KKR had, and the mistakes they made. So, if we observe the 2025 squad, the team couldn’t find a good opening combination, the batting order was all over the place, and the bowling lacked experience. These three were the major pain points for KKR in IPL 2025. While Sunil Narine opened consistently, he had inconsistent opening parents, and that meant KKR never had a good opening combination.

KKR hired Venkatesh Iyer for roughly 24 Cr, but there was no clarity in his role. Primarily a top-order batter, Venkatesh often batted after 8-10 overs, thus bringing ineffectiveness. He was not utilised in the bowling due to the impact player rule, and was not even appointed as the Captain of the side. So, it is still a lot of mystery why KKR spent so much on a player, who doesn’t add much value to the side. Probably the team was carried away by the competition as they also bid heavily on Venkatesh Iyer.

Coming to bowling, KKR relied heavily on inexperienced pacers, Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora. The team also didn’t utilise Andre Russell properly in the bowling, and the likes of Anrich Nortje and Spencer Johnson were out of form. Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine were the only two shining stars in their bowling lineup. With such a below-par bowling lineup, KKR faced a huge challenge to compete with the teams, and this is an area where KKR will have to work in the Mini Auction.

IPL 2026 Predicted Released Players List for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) 

1. Manish Pandey
2. Moeen Ali (o)
3. Rovman Powell (o)
4. Venkatesh Iyer
5. Spencer Johnson (o)
6. Luvnith Sisodiya
7. Chetan Sakariya
8. Shivam Shukla

So, considering the team’s issues, KKR have no other option, but to take tough calls, and release a few redundant players. So, among the players that KKR should release to be able to build a good squad, we should see them releasing expensive Venkatesh Iyer, Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodiya, Moeen Ali, Rovman Powell, Chetan Sakariya, and Spencer Johnson among quality players. If KKR release these players, they get a good purse of roughly 35-36 Cr, which will be enough to fill their gaps in the IPL 2026 Mini Auction.

So, having seen the predicted released players, we will now look at the target players for KKR, and the ones that are likely to strengthen the squad. With 35-36 Cr in the kitty, the KKR team can fancy at least two strong Overseas players, or 1 Strong player, and 4 to 5 decent ones. So, among the possibilities, Cameron Green will be a brilliant addition to the team, and he can be a solid replacement for Venkatesh Iyer. 

Ideally, KKR may have to shell out around 20-22 Cr for Cameron Green, and if they do it, the remaining 14-16 Cr can be utilised to buy the likes of Mohammed Shami, Rahul Chahar, N Jagadeesan, Ben Duckett, Matt Henry, and Kanishq Seth. Overall, these new players will help KKR overcome their opening department, and inexperienced bowling lineup. If Angkrish Raghuvanshi can donn wicket-keeping duties, the overall team balance improves drastically. 

IPL 2026 Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Dream Squad List

Batters

• Ajinkya Rahane
• Ben Duckett (o)
• Ramandeep Singh
• Rinku Singh

Wicket-keepers

• Angkrish Raghuvanshi
• N Jagadeesan 
• Quinton de Kock (o)
• Rahmanullah Gurbaz (o)

All-rounders

• Andre Russell (o)
• Anukul Roy
• Cameron Green (o)
• Kanishk Seth
• Sunil Narine (o)

Bowlers

• Anrich Nortje (o)
• Harshit Rana
• Matt Henry (o)
• Mayank Markande
• Mohammed Shami
• Rahul Chahar 
• Umran Malik
• Vaibhav Arora
• Varun Chakravarthy

So, that’s about the dream squad and players list for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for IPL 2026. Please share your thoughts on ipladdafounder@gmail.com.

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