(Cricket news) The IPL went through a major change this season by becoming a 10 team tournament with two new teams. A mega auction was staged where old teams were allowed to retain a maximum of 4 players while new teams could pick 3 players outside of the Auction. Kolkata Knight Riders who finished runners up in last season's final decided to retain their star overseas players Andre Russell and Sunil Narine. Their two Indian retention's were Varun Chakravarthy and Venkatesh Iyer.

Russell and Narine are legends of KKR and this season the pair continue to consistently put in good performances. Their retention wasn't a big surprise as they have an incredible history at the club. Eoin Morgan and Lockie Ferguson were the two other options but the choice was always going to be Russell and Narine. The other two retentions were extremely bold. KKR did not retain Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Tripathi, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana or Prasidh Krishna instead opting for Varun Chakravarthy and Venkatesh Iyer. 

Chakravarthy has had two incredible seasons with KKR but his time with the Indian team hasn't been good. His consistent injury issues have been an issue as well. KKR chose a player who has played well for only two seasons and that too for 8 Cr which was a little risky. This season Varun Chakravarthy has been a shadow of the player he previously was. The mystery spinner has not been effective at all this season having picked up only 4 wickets in 8 matches with an economy of 8.82. He was dropped after these below par performances which suggests that KKR management may have lost patience with him.

Venkatesh Iyer on the other hand burst onto the scene in the 2nd leg of the 2021 IPL where he scored 370 runs in 10 matches and also picked up 3 wickets. After that he had an amazing campaign in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Iyer made his debut for India in T20Is as well as ODIs and put in some good performances. This season he has been up and down the order as he started as an opener after which he was asked to bat lower. He was then asked to open again before being dropped in the last match against Rajasthan Royals.

KKR's retention policy hasn't been fruitful yet. KKR have used a total of 19 players this season, more than any other franchise. They have constantly chopped and changed players as well as team combination. Players are not getting an extended run in the team at all. As of now they are still in the race to qualify but the management need to find a combination and playing XI that works. There is still a chance that Iyer and Chakravarthy could return to the playing XI but their confidence must have taken a massive hit.

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