Kolkata Knight Riders had to work hard a bit and had to redo their squad, especially after an eighth-position finish in 2024. Even though they had tried to the core team intact, they had to create the backup! One of their super budget buys for KKR was, no doubt, the Kiwi keeper Finn Allen, who is enjoying some good years currently. Something KKR can pretty much brag about before entering the league is that they have managed to get the players they planned for. Cameron Green and Matheesha Pathirana have been their highest buys. Even though Green might not be an exact replacement for the recent KKR legend Andre Russell, Cam is expected to bring some power hitting to the table in the middle order. Apart from Cam and Pathirana, some other smart buys were the New Zealand batter Rachin Ravindra and the Indian bowler Akash Deep at their base prices KKR did raise their paddle for Venkatesh Iyer, their highest batter last season; however, they lost it to Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The KKR auction has been so far so good and here is the full squad for KKR in the IPL 2026 season: SL No Player Name Role Overseas / India Price (INR) 1 Rinku Singh Batter India ₹13 Cr 2 Varun Chakravarthy Bowler India ₹12 Cr 3 Sunil Narine All-Rounder Overseas (West Indies) ₹12 Cr 4 Harshit Rana All-Rounder India ₹4 Cr 5 Ramandeep Singh Batter India ₹4 Cr 6 Angkrish Raghuvanshi Batter India ₹3 Cr 7 Vaibhav Arora Bowler India ₹1.8 Cr 8 Rovman Powell Batter Overseas (West Indies) ₹1.5 Cr 9 Ajinkya Rahane Batter India ₹1.5 Cr 10 Manish Pandey Batter India ₹0.75 Cr 11 Anukul Roy All-Rounder India ₹0.40 Cr 12 Umran Malik Bowler India ₹0.75 Cr 13 Cameron Green All-Rounder Overseas (Australia) ₹25.20 Cr 14 Matheesha Pathirana Bowler Overseas (Sri Lanka) ₹18.00 Cr 15 Mustafizur Rahman Bowler Overseas (Bangladesh) ₹9.20 Cr 16 Finn Allen Batter Overseas (New Zealand) ~₹2 Cr 17 Tejasvi Singh Wicket-Keeper / Batter India ~₹3 Cr 18 Daksh Kamra Bowler India ~₹0.30 Cr 19 Sarthak Ranjan Bowler India ~₹0.30 Cr 20 Kartik Tyagi Bowler India 30 lakh 21 Prashant Solanki India 30 lakh 22 Rahul Tripathi Batter India 75 lakh 23 Tim Siefert wicketkeeper Overseas (New Zealand) 1.50 cr 24 Rachin Ravindra Batter Overseas (New Zealand) 2 crore 25 Akash Deep Bowler India 1 core Kolkata Knight Riders Playing XI Prediction - IPL 2026 Ajinkya Rahane (C), Finn Allen (wk), Cam Green, Angkrish Raghuvangshi, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Matheesha Pathirana, Vaibhav Arora Impact: Akash Deep Singh, Manish Pandey Kolkata Knight Riders’ Strongest Playing XII for IPL 2026 💜🔥 pic.twitter.com/fNYCWdGwR0 — CricketGully (@thecricketgully) December 16, 2025 KKR in 2026 KKR is unlikely to much changes in the playing XI, unless filling some spots in theteam. Green has to be an obvious additio, given his explosive batting and an addictional pace option. Apart from that the middle order will be lying on the shoulders of Angrish Raghuvangsi, and Rinku, and Ramandeep. One of the tough decisions will be about how to fit Sunil narine, who has been opening for a long time, in the team. However, he has to be in the squad. The bowling attack is elite—Varun’s mystery spin, Harshit Rana’s aggression, Pathirana’s death-over precision, and Vaibhav Arora’s swing cover all phases. Impact options add flexibility based on conditions.