KKR will kick off their IPL 2026 campaign on March 29 against the Mumbai Indians.
Former India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has blasted the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) management for releasing their title-winning skipper, Shreyas Iyer. Following a decade-long drought, the franchise had claimed their third title of the tournament under his leadership. But the team had decided not to retain him before the mega auction last year.
“KKR are three-time IPL champions. They won twice under Gautam Gambhir’s captaincy and once under Shreyas, but now it’s time to speak openly about releasing Shreyas Iyer. With Shreyas Iyer you had a qualified opportunity that also went to another team,” said the player on his YouTube channel.
Ashwin emphasised how the franchise ignored his proven track record as an IPL captain. Previously, Shreyas had also turned around the fortunes of the Delhi Capitals with back-to-back playoff appearances, including the IPL 2020 final. After leading the Punjab Kings (PBKS) to last season’s final after an 11-year hiatus, the 31-year-old is the only player in the history of the league to guide three different teams to the summit clash.
“I don’t want to review much around Shreyas’ captaincy skills, but the history of his leadership is compelling. Though he proved to be very expensive in the auction, but has also led Kings XI [Punjab Kings] to the final. I think KKR’s loss has now become the other team’s win. I think it is a drawback,” he added.
Notably, KKR had retained Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh before the previous season. On the other hand, Shreyas fetched a record-breaking amount of INR 26.75 crore in the mega auction to become the second-most expensive player in IPL history.
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The former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) player also weighed in on how multiple injury issues have weakened KKR’s pace attack for the IPL 2026. Despite the firepower in the batting line-up, it is ultimately the bowling strength that wins the teams tournaments. With some of the star bowlers missing out on the season, the franchise will have to heavily rely on a relatively inexperienced domestic core.
“The way the auction has panned out for the three-time champions for the last two years, I had said that KKR’s bowling attack is solid, but the unavailability of Mustafizur, Pathirana’s injury, Harshit Rana is ruled out of the tournament, somebody has to do the heavy lifting,” he observed.
The unavailability issues of multiple key players might derail KKR’s campaign early in the IPL 2026. However, despite some key new overseas recruits, the all-rounder has backed the team’s trump cards to steer through the challenges in the upcoming edition. He believes consistent fierce cameos from Rinku alongside the marquee spin-pair of Varun and Narine would be crucial to keep KKR in the title contention.
“They have Blessing Muzarabani, Finn Allen, Tim Seifert. I think KKR’s fortunes are heavily dependent on Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh,” opined Ashwin.
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