Kolkata Knight Riders have sprung a surprise as they have chosen to not retain incumbent captain Gautam Gambhir, under whom they won two IPL titles.
The franchise, owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, has rather opted to retain West Indies all-rounder Sunil Narine for Rs 8.5 crore. It has also retained Andre Russell for Rs 7 crore.
Gambhir had led Kolkata to their two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014.
The 36-year-old has scored a total of 3,035 runs for KKR in the previous seasons.
The IPL player acquisition policy allows franchises to retain maximum five players by virtue of a combination of pre-auction retention and Right to Match (RTM) cards for the 2018 edition.