Kolkata Knight Riders had to make some tough decisions ahead of the mega auction for the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League. Two-time IPL champions decided to not retain the Indian young opener Subhman Gill ahead of the upcoming auction.
However, Shubman Gill was touted to be one of the leaders in the future of KKR .Gill was drafted in by the Ahmedabad side for INR 8 crore ahead of the two-day auction after being released by KKR. Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Brendon McCullum said it was disappointing for the franchise to lose young Indian opener Shubman Gill.
McCullum admitted that it was “disappointing” to lose the young Indian opener. However, he pointed out that they needed to make some hard choices while deciding the retentions. “You need to plan as you’re going to lose a lot of players. It was disappointing to lose Shubman Gill. But that’s the way life is sometimes and we will be well prepared for the upcoming auction. Sunil Narine and Andre Russell have been proven campaigners for a decade. We have all seen what Varun Chakravarthy is capable of in the last two seasons. Venkatesh Iyer was probably the story of the second half of IPL 2021,” McCullum said in a live session for KKR.
Kolkata Knight Riders spent 42 crores to retain four players before the mega auction. They have retained two Indian players, Venkatesh Iyer and Varun Chakravarthy, and two foreigners players, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.