Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) prioritised retaining their championship core, splashing Rs 23.75 crore on Venkatesh Iyer. Unable to keep Nitish Rana, KKR brought in Manish Pandey and Ajinkya Rahane to bolster their batting line-up.

After the auction, Nitish Rana's wife Saachi Marwah went to social media and made a comment towards KKR as they did not retain him.

KKR went all out for Venkatesh Iyer for INR 23.75 crore, who might probably and potentially be their captaincy option for IPL 2025. However, the Knight Riders did balance out that bid with some steals of Anrich Nortje,