5 youngsters KKR should retain for IPL 2026 ft. Harshit Rana

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had a forgetful season in IPL 2025, with Ajinkya Rahane and co. finishing 8th on the points table. The three-time IPL champions hardly looked close to how they performed in 2024, when Shreyas Iyer led them to their third title. Regardless, the franchise indeed see some promising signs, especially from youngsters in the season.

Teams have to finalize on their retentions ahead of the November 15 deadline before the IPL 2026 auction. The auction will take place in December, with the venue still being undecided. Ahead of the IPL 2026 auction, let’s take a look at five youngsters that KKR can retain.

5 youngsters KKR should retain for IPL 2026

1. Harshit Rana

The 23-year-old has grown leaps and bounds ever since having his breakout season in IPL 2024. The Delhi pacer has, since then, gone on to represent India across all formats of the game and has earned the trust of his ex-KKR coach and current Indian team head coach Gautam Gambhir. He picked up 15 wickets from 13 matches in IPL 2025, averaging 29.86 although he did much better in 2024. Rana is a sure-shot retention for KKR before IPL 2026.

2. Vaibhav Arora

The right-arm pacer emerged as KKR’s leading wicket-taker among fast bowlers in IPL 2025. Like Rana, he too had a breakout season in 2024 and was bought back for Rs 1.80 crore in the mega auction. Arora managed to pick 17 wickets from 12 matches, establishing himself as an integral part of KKR’s setup. He has 36 wickets to his name from 40 IPL games in his career so far.

3. Rinku Singh

Retained for a price of Rs 13 crore, the designated finisher for KKR did not have the best of the seasons in IPL 2025. After establishing himself with a 474-run season in 2023, the UP batter has had back-to-back poor seasons in the IPL. In 2025, he managed to score 206 runs from 13 matches at an average of 29.42. Regardless, he is another sure-shot retention for KKR and their future finisher as well.

4. Angkrish Raghuvanshi

The 21-year-old had a breakout season in IPL 2025, going on to amass 300 runs from 12 matches and averaging 33.33. He is one of KKR’s most reliable batters and has proved his worth time and again. The Mumbai batter, who has scored just 2 fifties in the league so far, has established himself as one of the main batters in team and is here to stay in KKR.

5. Ramandeep Singh

Retained for Rs 4 crore, the middle-order batter is another player whom KKR won’t mind retaining. He fared rather poorly in IPL 2025, managing to score just 47 runs in 11 matches. However, his ability to ace his role as a middle-order batter and his credentials from 2024 will force KKR to retain him for IPL 2026.