Kolkata Knight Riders co-owner Venky Mysore has revealed that captain Shreyas Iyer was at the top of their list as far as retentions were concerned. However, Iyer wanted to test his value in the auction and thus the franchise released him.

KKR retained Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction.

“The interesting thing about retention is that there are so many aspects to it and forces as play, “Mysore said on RevSportz. “But what is fundamental to a retention that most people sometimes don’t understand that it’s a matter of mutually agreeing. It’s not a one-sided right that a franchise has. The player also has to consider various factors and agree.”

“Sometimes along the line that agreement doesn’t happen because of various factors; money or somebody wants to test their value or whatever it is. That influences a decision as well, eventually, but he was No.1 on our list,” he added.

Meanwhile, Iyer joined KKR after he was bought for INR 12.5 crore in the IPL 2022 mega auction. He was ruled out of the 2023 edition but led the franchise to glory in the previous season.

Mysore said he enjoyed the personal rapport with the Mumbai batter but respected his decision to go into the auction.

“He’s the captain and we have to build around that leadership and we picked him in 2022 specifically for that (sic). Unfortunately, he was injured in 2023. The moment he came back, he got his captaincy back. He was an integral part, did a terrific job and I enjoyed a personal rapport with him. But at the end of the day, people also have to make their own decisions and decide on what’s best for them and the direction that want to go,” Mysore said in the same interaction.

IPL auction is likely to take place in November.