KKR break silence on parting ways with IPL-winning captain Shreyas Iyer: ‘He was No.1 in our list but…’

Kolkata Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore has finally broken the silence on KKR’s decision not to retain Shreyas Iyer, who had led the franchise to their third IPL title win earlier this year. Speaking to RevSportz, Venky Mysore revealed that Shreyas was the No.1 pick in their list, but in the end, things did not work out. For the unversed, KKR retained Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh as their four retentions ahead of the big IPL 2025 mega-auction lined up for later this month.

Shreyas Iyer has not been retained by KKR.

Mysore pointed out that the retention process is dependent on both the parties mutually agreeing to things, and no franchise has a one-sided right to make the final call.

“You know, the interesting thing about retentions, I mean, there are so many aspects to it and forces at play. But I think what is fundamental to a retention that most people don’t sometimes understand, many people do, but some don’t is that it’s a matter of mutually agreeing. It’s not a one-sided right that the franchise has. The player has to also consider various factors and agree,” Mysore said.

“So, somewhere along the line, if that agreement doesn’t happen because of various factors, money or somebody wants to test their value or whatever it is, you know, that influences that decision also, eventually. But, I mean, he was number one on our list, so to say. Obviously, you know, he’s captain and we have to build everything around the leadership. And we picked him specifically in 22 for that. But unfortunately, he was injured in 23. When he came back, the moment he came back, he got his captaincy back,” he added.

‘Players want to determine their right market value’

Mysore also said that even though he enjoys a great personal rapport with Shreyas Iyer, the final call of going into the auction pool was the batter’s. He said that every player has the right to determine their market value.

“We made it very clear that it’s yours when you come back. So, he’s been a very integral part, done a terrific job. I enjoy a personal rapport with him. But, you know, end of the day, people also have to make their own decisions and decide on what’s best for them and the direction that they want to go. And the commercial value, etc, is a very important aspect of it. So, when you put it all together, we’ve been very fortunate over the years,” said Venky Mysore.

“I’ve done this for 14 years. I tell people, I’ve been in 14 auctions. There will be my 15th. But this was the most stressful one. Just because of the kind of the way rules have been formulated. They’re very different this time. Very different, the rules. And, you know, we had made certain recommendations and it came back a certain way. So, I’m all for players wanting to determine what the correct, the right market value is,” he added.

Speaking further, the KKR CEO mentioned: “Nobody knows what it is. But only when they go into the auction. The auction is a fantastic marketplace where 10 franchises who all have their own priorities. They have a certain amount of purse which is all equal. When you start off on equal terms and then you go in there and then in that process, the player’s value gets determined. So, I’m all for that and I think that’s how it should be. So, you know, all of these are factors that come into making one decision. And in this case, it so happened that he felt it was the best. And we are always supportive of whatever the players want. That, you know, go and test yourself in the auction as far as what the value is. And that’s kind of how it played out.”

Shreyas had scored 352 runs and led the side brilliantly to end the franchise’s barren IPL title drought. Before 2024, it was way back in 2014 and 2012 that KKR had won the IPL under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir. If KKR are unable to secure back the services of Iyer at the auction, it would mark the end of a special run between the two parties. Iyer played 28 matches for KKR, scoring 752 runs. He missed the 2023 season for the franchise, owing to an injury, but roared back the following by taking the team to the ultimate IPL high.