IPL 2018 player retention: Did KKR not retain Gautam Gambhir due to money-matters?

Mumbai: While there were not many surprises as the Indian Premier League (IPL) teams announced the names of the retained players in Mumbai on Thursday, what could have surprised a few Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) fans was the non-retention of Gautam Gambhir.

Read: IPL 2018 player retention: Dhoni reunites with CSK, Kohli and Rohit retained

KKR, who won the IPL in 2012 and 2014, retained the West Indian duo of Sunil Narine and Andre Russell. However, the Shah Rukh Khan-co-owned side decided to let go Gautam Gambhir, who had led the side to two IPL titles in space of three years.

Before the player-retention, which took place in Mumbai on Thursday, it was reported that Gambhir’s age (36) could see him make a KKR exit. However, it is learnt KKR decided to release the southpaw, keeping in mind the money-purse they had. Had they decided to retain the Delhi batsman, in addition to Narine and Russell, they would have spent Rs. 33 crore and would have had Rs. 47 crore in their account from the purse of Rs. 80 crore.

However, by retaining only two cricketers – Rs.12.5 for Narine and Rs. 8.5 for Russell – KKR saved Rs. 12 crores more for themselves and will now have Rs. 59 crore at their disposal, the amount which they can use during the IPL players' auction, which will take place in Bengaluru on January 27 and 28.

Gambhir, who has 4132 runs against his name in 148 IPL games, is the fourth highest run-getter in IPL behind Suresh Raina (4540 runs from 161 games), who was retained by Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Virat Kohli (4418 runs from149 games), who was retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), and Rohit Sharma (4207 runs from 159 games) retained by Mumbai Indians (MI).