New Delhi, Oct 29 (IANS): After the dominating performance throughout the season that led to their third Indian Premier League (IPL) title earlier this year, defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will have the daunting task upfront of choosing their six retentions ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. The side led by Shreyas Iyer finished at the top of the standings with nine wins in 14 games in the league stage and went on to outclass Sunrisers Hyderabad in the summit clash.

With the impressive performance last season, former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh picked Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Phil Salt, and Sunil Narine as five possible retentions by the Kolkata-based franchise to keep their core group intact.

“KKR dominated the entire season, so it will be difficult for them to leave or retain anyone. But it's a matter of retention, so you only have limited numbers that you can retain. If I want to see or if I have to choose my 6 players, which 6 players will be there for KKR? I think Shreyas Iyer will be there, Phil Salt will be there, Narine will be there, Andre Russell will be there, Rinku Singh will be there," Harbhajan told Star Sports.

He went on to pick uncapped Ramandeep Singh, who batted at a blistering strike rate of 201.61 in the middle order, as the sixth and final retention by the champion side.

"I will definitely want to see Rinku Singh. He should be the 5th player to be retained. And if we talk about one more player, who is the last player to be retained? It could be Ramandeep Singh. He is an uncapped player. I think he should be retained. He played very well last year and I have seen his performance in domestic cricket this year as well. So I think this 6th player, Knight Rider, will be retained," the former spinner added.

The auction purse for the franchises has been set at Rs 120 crore for IPL 2025. The last date for the franchises to finalise their retention list is October 31.