Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra said Gautam Gambhir will make the most of the Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) hefty remaining purse to prepare a formidable squad after the IPL 2024 auction. However, KKR has ₹32.70 crore left in its purse after releasing a lot of players ahead of the auction. They can acquire a maximum of 12 players, including four from overseas, at the auction in Dubai on December 19 as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “Gautam was in Lucknow and has reached Kolkata, but he was in Kolkata earlier as well. In fact, he was the captain when Kolkata won the IPL trophy twice. They finished at No. 7 last time, couldn’t qualify. Shreyas Iyer wasn’t available. The captain is available this time and the mentor has also changed. The winds of change have blown. They have a lot of money and Gautam Gambhir is never stingy. He says he will spend even the last rupee. In fact, I remember, he didn’t take a single paisa home in Lucknow’s first auction. So you can expect the same here as well.”
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Meanwhile, Gautam Gambhir led KKR to IPL titles in 2012 and 2014 as well. He then moved to the Delhi Capitals before joining the Lucknow Super Giants as a mentor as well, spending the entire available purse of ₹90 crore to assemble a strong 21-member squad at the IPL 2022 auction as well. Aakash Chopra also added that KKR have done wholesale releases to make sure that they have a huge sum heading into the auction.
“However, to make this purse as 32.70 crores, they needed to release players. They have released more people than the fingers in my hands. They have released an entire team. In fact, they have 12 slots to fill,” Aakash Chopra concluded. “The big releases that have freed up the money are Lockie Ferguson (10 crores) and Shardul Thakur (10.75) crores. That makes it nearly 21 crore rupees. Then they had bought Umesh Yadav for two crores and Tim Southee for 1.5 crores. Shakib Al Hasan was also for 1.5 crores.”
