CSK & Cameron Green: Why KKR released Andre Russell before IPL 2026 auction

Andre Russell and the Knight Riders have a special bond. Apart from the Kolkata Knight Riders, the Jamaican all-rounder wears the purple and gold jersey in ILT20 for the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, CPL for the Trinbago Knight Riders and MLC for the LA Knight Riders.

That’s why when KKR released him before the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 auction, everyone was shocked. Russell hadn’t played for any other franchise since his debut. He was expected to be a one-team player, like Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. That ended up happening anyway. Since Russell announced his IPL retirement yesterday. But there’s more to the story.

Why did KKR release Andre Russell?

According to Cricbuzz, Russell could’ve entered the auction, but KKR’s decision to announce him as their ‘power coach’ made him change his mind. In fact, KKR would’ve even released Russell if not for IPL rules, Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) decision to release Matheesha Pathirana and Cameron Green.

KKR didn’t think CSK would release the Sri Lankan pacer. The moment they did, the 5-time champions had an INR 43.40 crore purse for the IPL 2026 auction. Had KKR not released Russell, their purse would have been INR 46.30 crore instead of 64.30.

This wouldn’t have given them an advantage at the auction. KKR plans to top players like Green, Pathirana, Ravi Bishnoi, and Jamie Smith. The 2-time champions might look to rebuy Venkatesh Iyer for a lower price. That’s why they needed a big purse.

KKR had named Russell their top retention last season. However, instead of INR 18 crore, they were paying him just 12. Had KKR retained Russell before the auction, they would have had the maximum sum deduction from their purse, 18 instead of 12.

Due to this specific IPL retention rule, they release KKR. If they had somehow managed to save those INR 6 crore, they might have persisted with him for at least one more season.

KKR squad before IPL 2026 auction

Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, ⁠Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy

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