The year 2024 was one to remember for Kolkata Knight Riders as they clinched their third Indian Premier League title and first in the last 10 years. KKR won IPL trophies back in 2012 and 2014 but what followed was a long drought for the side. During this period, the closest KKR came to the coveted title was in 2021, when they lost to Chennai Super Kings in the final in Dubai. 2024 was a different story. The Shreyas Iyer-led KKR registered a one-sided victory over SunRisers Hyderabad in the summit clash to claim its third title.
The dominance of KKR throughout the tournament was simply amazing as the side thrashed finalists SRH thrice in the tournament. First in the league stage, then in the Qualifier 1 and finally in the final. KKR won the final by 8 wickets and 57 balls to spare and Qualifier 1 by 8 wickets and 38 balls to spare.
Fast forward to October 31 and Shreyas Iyer, KKR’s title-winning captain, could not find a place for himself in the team as he was not retained by the franchise. Interestingly, IPL 2024 was the best season for Iyer in terms of average and strike rate. He played 14 matches and scored 351 runs at an average of 39 and a strike rate of 146.86.
Three-time champions KKR retained six players. Rinku Singh was the first-choice for KKR at a price of Rs 13 crore, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell all three were paid Rs 12 crore each, while Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh got Rs 4 crore apiece.
Destiny had better plans for Shreyas Iyer and the batter soon found it out at the IPL 2025 Auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The franchises broke banks while bidding for Iyer. For a brief duration, he even went on to become the costliest player in IPL history. Punjab Kings bought the batter for a massive sum of Rs 26.75 crore, surpassing the record of Mitchell Starc‘s 24.75 crore.
This was, however, not the biggest sum splurged for a player in the IPL 2025 Auction as minutes later, Rishabh Pant was sold to Lucknow Super Giants for a massive sum of Rs 27 crore. He too was released by his franchise Delhi Capitals ahead of the bidding war.
While Pant was expected to get such a big amount, Shreyas surprised many. What was even more surprising was the fact that KKR bought Venkatesh at the bidding war for a massive sum of Rs 23.75 crore despite having no Right-To-Match card. These stars turned out to be the three costliest players sold in IPL 2025 auction. Pant and Shreyas even registered an all-time record of becoming the top-two costliest players in IPL.
