KKR Squad 2027, Kolkata Knight Riders Full Player List and Prices

The KKR squad 2027 has 24 players and no captain. Kolkata Knight Riders lost Ajinkya Rahane to retirement on 30 July, finished seventh in 2026 after losing five of their first six games, and still carry the two most expensive auction buys of last season in Cameron Green and Matheesha Pathirana.

There is good news in the numbers though. Because KKR had to release Mustafizur Rahman before the season and replaced him with a much cheaper player, they may walk into the Goa auction on 16 December with more money in hand than people expect. This page has the full squad with every fee, that purse sum worked out, the captaincy race, the likely XI and a retention outlook for 17 November.

Every other IPL 2027 story, from trades to the auction, is on our IPL 2027 hub.

• Full squad and prices
• Purse head start
• Captaincy race
• Likely XI
• Squad gaps
• Retention outlook
• 2026 season
• History
• Our take
• FAQ

KKR squad 2027, full player list with prices

Here is every player on Kolkata’s books on 6 November 2026. Rahane has been taken off because he has retired, and Blessing Muzarabani is in for Mustafizur Rahman. Overseas players are marked (OS). Muzarabani’s fee was not announced by the franchise, so we have used the figure that was widely reported.

The Cameron Green number, explained

KKR paid Rs 25.20 crore for Green in Abu Dhabi, beating Chennai in a bidding war. It made him the most expensive overseas player in IPL auction history. But that is not what he takes home. From the 2026 auction onwards, the BCCI capped what an overseas player can earn at the highest retention price of Rs 18 crore. So the full Rs 25.20 crore comes off Kolkata’s purse, while Green’s pay stops at Rs 18 crore.

Pathirana went for exactly that cap, Rs 18 crore, after Chennai let him go. Together the two cost KKR Rs 43.20 crore of purse, more than a third of their budget, on two overseas players who between them missed a lot of cricket through injury in 2026.

KKR’s hidden purse head start

This is the part of KKR’s story nobody else has added up. When the BCCI told Kolkata to release Mustafizur Rahman on 3 January, the board promised a full refund and a replacement. KKR signed Muzarabani in March at his base price. According to Outlook, the money saved on the replacement is added to Kolkata’s purse and carries over to the next auction.

About Rs 10 crore before letting anyone go is a decent start in a mini auction. Add one big release, Pathirana for example, and KKR could easily be over Rs 25 crore, enough to buy a proven captain if the right one is in the pool.

Who will captain KKR in 2027

Rahane announced his retirement from all cricket on 30 July 2026, ending a career of 85 Tests, 90 ODIs, 20 T20Is and 212 IPL games. He had led KKR for two seasons. That leaves three paths for Kolkata.

Promote from inside

Rinku Singh was made vice captain before the 2026 season, and most reports name him as the front runner. He knows the dressing room, has been at the franchise since 2018 and has the crowd behind him. The worry is experience. He has very little captaincy behind him at senior level. Sunil Narine and Rovman Powell have also been mentioned.

Trade for one

KKR were in the Hardik Pandya conversation early. The Telegraph reported that Mumbai asked for Harshit Rana and Angkrish Raghuvanshi, and that KKR refused to give up Narine, Rinku or Varun. Punjab Kings then moved ahead in the talks. Reported

Buy one in Goa

With the purse head start above, KKR can afford to bid for a captain if a strong one is released on 17 November. They have done it before. Shreyas Iyer came at the 2022 mega auction and led them to the 2024 title.

KKR likely playing XI for 2027

Based on the current squad, with Rinku as captain and the Impact Player rule in place, this is the side we expect at Eden Gardens.

Eden Gardens has started to favour batters in recent seasons, so Kolkata will want Narine and Varun bowling eight overs between them in the middle of the innings, with Green and Ramandeep sharing the fifth bowler’s job.

Kartik Tyagi in the XI may surprise people, but he earned it. Bought for Rs 30 lakh, he finished the 2026 league stage with 18 wickets, seventh on the list, ahead of most of KKR’s expensive bowlers.

Where the KKR squad is short

Break the 24 players down by role and the shape of the problem is clear. KKR have plenty of top order batters and keepers. Finn Allen, Tim Seifert and Tejasvi Dahiya can all keep, and Allen, Narine, Raghuvanshi, Tripathi and Manish Pandey can all bat in the top three. What they do not have is a finisher they trust after Russell, or a proven Indian death bowler.

That table explains our take below. If Pathirana goes, the money should go on an Indian fast bowler who can bowl at the death, and a finisher if anything is left.

KKR retention outlook for 17 November

Kolkata have one free slot and no free overseas slot, so this list shapes everything they can do in Goa.

Certain to stay

Rinku, Narine, Varun, Harshit, Raghuvanshi and Ramandeep are the Indian core plus Narine, and the franchise has made clear it values them. Raghuvanshi was the team’s top scorer in 2026 with 422 runs. Green is too expensive and too new to release after one season.

The Pathirana question

Pathirana is the name most linked with an exit. At Rs 18 crore he is the second most expensive player in the squad, and Mr Cricket UAE’s season review argued KKR overlooked why Chennai let him go, pointing to his injury record. Releasing him frees Rs 18 crore and an overseas slot at once. Reported prediction

Others who could go

Manish Pandey, Rahul Tripathi, Anukul Roy and Umran Malik are cheap, but each takes a squad slot. If KKR want room for two or three buys, expect at least two of those names on the release list. For every team’s likely releases, see our IPL 2027 retained and released players list.

What went wrong in 2026

The season was over before it really started. KKR went winless in their first six games, five defeats and a washout, and spent most of the campaign in the bottom half. They were knocked out on the last weekend when Rajasthan beat Mumbai, and finished seventh, missing the playoffs for a second year running.

Injuries hurt. Head coach Abhishek Nayar admitted mid season that injuries to key bowlers had made it hard, and Pathirana spent long spells unavailable. Former India keeper Deep Dasgupta said after the season that KKR still had gaps to fix. Two months after the last game, Rahane retired.

There were good signs. Raghuvanshi scored 422 runs and looks like a long term number three. Tyagi was a real find. And Nayar, a first time head coach, kept the dressing room together through a bad start, although local reports say his own position is also under review.

Coaching staff

Abhishek Nayar took over as head coach before the 2026 season, replacing Chandrakant Pandit, who won the 2024 title with KKR. Nayar has been at the franchise since 2018, first as head of the KKR Academy, and had a spell as India’s assistant coach under Gautam Gambhir. Dwayne Bravo is the mentor, Shane Watson the assistant coach and Tim Southee the bowling coach.

KKR through the years

Three titles make KKR the third most successful team in the league, behind Chennai and Mumbai with five each. Gautam Gambhir led them to the first two, and he came back as mentor for the third.

How the squad has changed since our last update

When we last built this page for 2023, Nitish Rana was standing in as captain because Shreyas Iyer was injured, and Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur and Lockie Ferguson were in the squad. Of that group only Rinku, Narine, Varun and Harshit are left. Russell left before the 2026 auction and then retired from the IPL, and Iyer moved on after winning the 2024 title. Kolkata have rebuilt twice in three years.

Who owns KKR

Kolkata Knight Riders are owned by the Knight Riders Group, the company of Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, actor Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta of the Mehta Group. Venky Mysore is CEO and managing director. The group also runs Knight Riders teams in the Caribbean, the UAE and the USA. For every IPL owner and coach, see our IPL 2027 captains, owners and coaches list.

KKR 2027 schedule and tickets

The IPL 2027 schedule is not out yet, and the BCCI has not confirmed a start date. KKR’s home games will be at Eden Gardens. We will add every fixture here and on the KKR tickets and booking guide as soon as it is released. All ten squads are on our IPL 2027 squads page.

KKR squad 2027 FAQ

Last updated 6 November 2026