There were quite a few eyes on Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL Auction 2018 concerning the fate of their former skipper Gautam Gambhir. The franchise had not retained him before the auction and there were speculations that they might bring him back from auction.
KKR had retained the 2 overseas players Sunil Narine and Andre Russell and had INR 59 crores remaining in the purse. It was believed that they did not feel like retaining Gambhir for the designated amounts before the auction and that they would go for him in the auction.
But when Gambhir’s name appeared for auction, the KKR desk was quiet. Delhi Daredevils bought him for INR 2.8 crores as opposed to his base price INR 2 crores. It was not a huge amount but KKR opted to let him go.
But on the brighter side, they managed to bring in quite a few big names of the cricketing fraternity. Australia’s pacer Mitchell Starc was slotted in for a huge sum of INR 9.4 crores. Chris Lynn inflicted a big bidding fight among 5 franchises but KKR managed to fetch him for INR 9.6 crores.
Among the top Indian players, they managed to buy Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa and Piyush Chawla. They then used the RTM card for the chinaman Kuldeep Yadav by matching Royal Challengers Bangalore’s bid of INR 5.8 crores. The emerging talents from India’s Under-19 team – Shubman Gill and Kamlesh Nagarkoti were bought for economic bids.
Players purchased by Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL Auction 2018
| Player | Type | Country | Base Price | Sold for |
| Mitchell Starc | Marquee | Australia | INR 2 crores | INR 9.4 crores |
| Chris Lynn | Capped Batsman | Australia | INR 2 crores | INR 9.6 crores |
| Dinesh Karthik | Wicketkeeper | India | INR 2 crores | INR 7.4 crores |
| Robin Uthappa | Wicketkeeper | India | INR 2 crores | INR 6.4 crores |
| Mitchell Johnson | Fast Bowler | Australia | INR 2 crores | INR 2 crores |
| Piyush Chawla | Spinner | India | INR 1 crore | INR 4.2 crores |
| Kuldeep Yadav | Spinner | India | INR 1.5 crores | INR 5.8 crores |
| Shubman Gill | Uncapped Batsman | India | INR 20 Lakhs | INR 1.8 crores |
| Ishank Jaggi | Uncapped Batsman | India | INR 20 Lakhs | INR 20 Lakhs |
| Kamlesh Nagarkoti | Uncapped All-Rounder | India | INR 20 Lakhs | INR 3.2 crores |
| Nitish Rana | Uncapped All-Rounder | India | INR 20 Lakhs | INR 3.4 crores |
| Vinay Kumar | Fast Bowler | India | INR 1 crore | INR 1 crore |
| Apoorv Wankhede | Uncapped Batsman | India | INR 20 Lakhs | INR 20 Lakhs |
| Rinku Singh | Uncapped Batsman | India | INR 20 Lakhs | INR 80 Lakhs |
| Shivam Mavi | Uncapped All-Rounder | India | INR 20 Lakhs | INR 3 crores |
| Cameron Delport | Uncapped All-Rounder | South Africa | INR 30 Lakhs | INR 30 Lakhs |
| Javon Searles | Uncapped All-Rounder | Windies | INR 30 Lakhs | INR 30 Lakhs |
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