Nitish Rana has represented Kolkata Knight Riders since 2018 and played a vital part in securing the title for IPL 2024. However, just ahead of the IPL 2025 auction, the batter was released by the franchise and later bought at a figure of Rs 4.2 crore by Rajasthan Royals. After the auction, Nitish’s wife – Saachi Marwah – went on a social media blitzkrieg to take a veiled dig at KKR about not retaining him before the auction. She posted a picture along with the caption – “Loyalty is very expensive, not everyone can afford it”. The post has gone viral and ultimately has led to so much talk on social media.
Meanwhile, Dwayne Bravo-the ex-West Indies all-rounder and presently the mentor of the reigning champions, Kolkata Knight Riders-have defended the strategy of the team in going all-out for Venkatesh Iyer to keep the core of the IPL championship-winning side intact.
This has further stirred speculations about Venkatesh as a prospective captain candidate for KKR, as a critical questioning point has arisen as to why the player was not retained if leadership was among the future plans of the think tank.
“Getting Venky (Venkatesh Iyer) was one of the main priorities in our drive as you could see, we went all out for him,” says Bravo, a four-time IPL winner at Chennai Super Kings.
“It is good to have 90 percent of players from a championship-winning team. That, in itself, is a positive sign. It’s important to keep your core because when you have to build from scratch, it becomes complicated to make combinations and all.”
“We started planning while I was in Trinidad. We had come with a proper plan, the players we wanted to target,” added Bravo, who will be in charge of all the franchises of the Knight Riders label in T20 leagues.
The 29-year-old all-rounder from Madhya Pradesh, who has played for the national team in nine T20 internationals and two ODIs, emerged as the third-costliest player at the two-day IPL auction, at a staggering Rs 23.75 crore.
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