Explained: Why KKR have been deducted Rs 69 crore from mega auction purse despite spending Rs 57 crore

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) chose to retain a large chunk of the squad that won their third Indian Premier League (IPL) title earlier this year, though their retention list unveiled on the 31 October deadline did not include captain Shreyas Iyer. The Knight Riders, instead, decided to name middle-order batter Rinku Singh as their top retention at Rs 13 crore and also included veteran West Indian all-rounders Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.

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With leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy and the uncapped pair of Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh also included, KKR opted to fill all six retention slots made available to the franchises by the IPL Governing Council (GC). The three-time champions thus will not have any Right To Match (RTM) cards heading into the mega auction later this month, a situation that is similar to that of inaugural IPL champions Rajasthan Royals.

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KKR spent Rs 12 crore on the trio of Russell, Narine and Chakravarthy and Rs 4 crore each on Rana and Ramandeep. However, despite having spent a combined amount of Rs 57 crore on retaining the six players, KKR have just Rs 51 crore left from the total auction purse of Rs 120 crore, instead of Rs 63 crore that would have been logical in this scenario.

What’s the logic behind Rs 69 crore being deducted from KKR’s auction purse?

As per the IPL’s new retention rules that were announced in the last week of September, Rs 18 crore is the fixed deduction from a franchise’s purse for the first and fourth capped players while Rs 14 crore is the amount for the second and fifth retentions. Rs 11 crore is the amount deducated for the third capped player while the amount for uncapped players is fixed at Rs 4 crore.

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These are fixed deductions regardless of the amount that a franchise finalises for its retained players. So even if Sunrisers Hyderabad retained Heinrich Klaasen for Rs 23 crore, Rs 18 crore is the amount that will be deducted from their purse for their top retention.

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By retaining four capped players and two uncapped players, KKR spent a total of Rs 69 crore going by the franchise’s rules even if they spent much lesser than that in reality.