Three-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have pressed the reset button by releasing several including Andre Russell, who became an IPL great during his 11 years at the franchise. They also let go of India allrounder Venkatesh Iyer, who was bought at the mega auction for INR 23.50 crore. KKR, who won the IPL last in 2024, also overhauled their coaching staff, appointing Abhishek Nayar as new head coach, Shane Watson and Tim Southee as assistant coaches, and making Russell the 'Power Coach'.
These developments prompted several questions, which KKR's long-term CEO Venky Mysore offers insight into, as well as detailing why Russell retired from the IPL.
Was releasing Andre Russell, or 'Muscle Russell' as Shah Rukh Khan called him, a last-minute decision? Can you now disclose why you decided to release him?
Venky Mysore: I wish there was no auction every year because this just becomes very nerve-wracking many times, and some things that you don't want to do, you end up having to do. But no, it wasn't like a last, last-minute thing, but we were grappling with all combinations, ideas, what to do and all that. Finally, we said, okay, this [release] is what we have to do.
But some people missed the fundamental point, which is the [purse] deduction for us was 18 crore, not 12 crore by releasing Dre. So, although his contract value was 12 crore, the deduction from our purse was 18 crore in 2025. A lot of people missed that and said, oh, why would KKR not see value in a person who is at 12 crores? 18 crores, which would be deducted from our purse if we had reattained him, is a lot of money in the context of an auction. That was the trigger.
And in mini-auctions, you want to go with as much as you can to have the flexibility to look at options that might come your way. So from that perspective, if it was 12 crore, I think the decision would've been very different.
If the deduction was 12 crore, would you have retained him?
Mysore: I mean it would have made a huge difference. Although 12 cr is still a lot, but could we get a player of his quality for 12 cr in the auction? It's very unlikely in a mini auction (if you release him at that price). But releasing 18 cr, from the auction purse, it's a fair amount of money. Therefore it was not a last-minute decision. It was a last-minute announcement.
You are also trying to figure out what the alternatives would be. When you put someone in an auction, you have to go with an assumption you may not be able to get a player back. So if that's the case, then what are your options? How do you resolve it? What's your structure? All those discussions happen. So yes, in the days leading up to the retention deadline, we made the call.
What was Russell's reaction?
Mysore: Although we have never had to put him [Russell] in the auction, these discussions happen every time there's a retention opportunity and it happened even ahead of a mega-auction. Particularly last year because the whole fee structure was very different and very, very punitive. If you retained more than three players, then you were penalised literally because fourth player retention slab was 18 crore, like Dre.
So you are trying to do the math and say, can I get this player for 18 crore or less in the auction? We don't want to obviously let any of our players go. Therefore I had the discussion this time with Dre and said, we may have to do this (release). And he said, "wow, never been in an auction since 2014." Because before that he was with Delhi [Daredevils]. Then we picked him and since then he's never been been in an auction. So it's a strange feeling for both of us. And he's always a very sensible and sensitive guy, easy to communicate with. Very emotional, but not clinical, like a few players I have dealt with.
It hit him after a couple of days after that conversation. He came back to me and said, "oh, I've really had a lot of sleepless nights wondering about where all of this could go. I'm so used to the purple and gold, Knight Riders and relationships I have built with the franchise, you and the owners."
We jokingly discussed, and many people know that over the last 11 years that he's been with us, I've probably spoken with Dre more than I've spoken with my wife. We sent him to Dallas [to train with local NFL team] twice to help him become more fitter, more stronger. When he was handed the year-long anti-doping ban in 2017, I was very much in touch and sent our physio from TKR - Trinbago Knight Riders - to Jamaica to work with Dre and help him with his fitness and more importantly, just to keep him in the right spirits. It was a tough year for him when a cricketer can't play. Imagine one year was a very long time, but then right after that was a retention year in 2018.
We didn't know what form he was in, what fitness level he was in, but we retained him. But he always acknowledges that and always says, "I've tears in my eyes because I got a million-dollar contract and retention decision on him."
All that kind of hit him after about 48 hours of the initial conversation on releasing him. Then the auction discussions started in a way, to say, how do we handle it? What happens? And all that.
At that point, he had not yet given up on coming to the auction? Your conversation was on him getting released - correct?
Mysore: Exactly. I've had a few of these types of conversations over the 15 years I've been running the franchise. Very rarely do players feel like they are done. They always feel like, oh yeah, I've got cricket left in me - one year, two years, three years…that's where his [Russell's] head was also. And he's probably right, but he also realised by the time 2026 IPL comes around, he'll be 38. And for someone who's an allrounder like him, a pace bowler who comes in at death, has to smash, has to run a lot, field like he does, his instincts take over once he is on the field. He's a natural athlete, but body and age do catch up.
But somewhere that conversation [retiring from IPL] did come up as an option and he gave it more thought. For a variety of reasons, it appealed to him and said, yeah, why not? Let's do this.
Was it your suggestion or his?
Mysore: I could see he (Russell) was agonising over it, and, so when I shared this with SRK [Shah Rukh, KKR lead owner], it was actually SRK's suggestion of offering Russell a coaching role. Because, see, a player is thinking somewhere at the back of his mind, what happens after I hang up my boots? But I don't think they want to think about it also so much because professional athletes are like that. They believe I'm still good, and Dre still is - he is fantastic and playing other leagues.
Yesterday (December 3, in the ILT20 match between Abu Dhabi Knight Riders and Sharjah Warriorz) also, he came in and straightaway smashed that six, which are trademark Dre sixes, which hits the sight screen and the ball comes back to the middle of the pitch literally. You start thinking, oh my God! And even with the ball, runs in first ball, clean bowled DK [Dinesh Karthik].
It just felt like he was very free in his mind after making the retirement decision. Because the guy took a couple of catches, is sliding and diving and throwing. I sent him a note later, saying "what's going on here, Dre? How you doing power coach?" I was kidding him. Everybody has started calling him power coach and I think he loves it. We're very happy. I think he's very happy. He's completely accepted it, come to terms with it.
Power coach - Russell said it was your idea. He has not coached anywhere, so how did that come about?
Mysore: It was almost a spur of the moment thought. We were talking what role he could best do and I said: what are you best known for? It is your ability to come in and finish games with very few balls left and go from ball one. With his bowling as well, he has always been one of these enforcer type of bowlers. Then fielding also, I've never seen somebody as athletic as him. I mean now it's different, but when he was younger, if he was the guy on the boundary line, anyone who hit the ball to him wouldn't venture to run a two because he used to be so quick and slide and pick up and throw and he was so powerful.
The image of him when he walks in itself is like, oh my God, here he comes. There's going to be some power hitting now. I said to him: "what can you help us, help the team the most with is all your experience and skills. When you bring them together, it's all about power, every thing that you did." So I said, "we will call you power coach."
Actually that put a smile on his face, and Dre said, "maan, that sounds really good." And it's probably the first of its kind that there's such a terminology given to someone who can come in and help. So it's more than coaching, it's also a lot about communicating with certain types of players who are going to play that role, which Dre was playing so well, and basically talking about his experiences.
KKR coaches used to always make him talk, and even when I used to have informal conversations, I used to say: "what do you think? You are sitting in the dugout, 16 runs needed an over and when you walk in, what are you thinking?" He says, "I back myself to get those 15-16 runs an over because I feel like I can clear the boundary at least twice an over, so I'm calculating how many sixes are needed in the remaining balls in the innings." That is unique how many people can actually do that.
Yes, only a few have managed to walk in under pressure and succeed. Dre does that and now you have a Tim David performing similar role, hitting sixes at will.
Mysore: Correct. You can't teach power, but you can at least help players with the mindset as long as they have the skillset. And then help them with how do you think to work through that.
Dre also is a very sensible and a very practical guy because once he agreed to join the coaching staff, he was very quick to say, listen, I'm only going to be like a sponge coming there to absorb everything. He is aware there are highly experienced guys who are in the support staff now: Abhishek [Nayar] has been with us since 2018, [Dwayne] Bravo since 2015 in TKR and mentor since last year in KKR, [Shane] Watson has been head coach in MLC and other places, also assistant coach in IPL, Tim Southee brings amazing experience as a bowling coach. So there is a wealth of experience and knowledge in our support staff. So Dre told me: "I can learn a lot from all of these guys because I'm getting my feet wet, but at the same time, I'll have a lot to offer wherever I can."
Can Russell play in T20 leagues where Knight Riders don't have a franchise?
Mysore: We don't want to restrict somebody from playing or earning more money. As long as it doesn't conflict with what we are doing he's perfectly at liberty to play those tournaments. His contract does say he'll play for us full-time on all the three leagues - CPL, MLC and ILT20 - and he can do other stuff which doesn't conflict with where we play.
What was the reason for overhauling the coaching staff?
Mysore: Why the reset is because we were forced to, no? Last year [after 2024 IPL] our coaching cabinet was cleaned out. [Gautam Gambhir, Abhishek Nayar, Ryan ten Doeschate, the KKR mentor and assistant coaches, took over coaching roles with Indian men's team]. But the learning really for me is, it's not a perfect science in terms of players who transition into coaching, and whether they can be as good as they were as players.
Another learning is: the game is changing so fast that ideally you want coaches who are contemporary cricketers. That's what we have in Abhishek Nayar, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Tim Southee and now Dre, too. Because they have just been there, done that. In fact, yesterday [December 3 match between ADKR and Warriorz] was a funny moment when Dre was bowling to Southee - my power coach is bowling to my bowling coach and my mentor [Bravo, who is ADKR head coach] is in the dugout. It was a very comical moment.
So the point I am making is their touchy-feely stuff around the game will be so strong because they were, [and are still] just playing it. And secondly, what happens is, the way they can relate to the players about what the players go through. So when you're in team meetings, strategy planning etc. the players also realise when it comes from them, these are people who have just been there, who have done it recently.
Going into the mini-auction with a purse of INR 64.3 crore - enough money to buy whoever you want - do you see KKR in a pole position to build a strong squad?
Mysore: We are never usually the ones to go into the auction with the highest purse. But it just so happened two players [Venkatesh Iyer and Russell] accounted for 41.5 crore. So that is very, very unusual that something like that happens at KKR. So now we are sort of saying, okay, let's see. But a lot of players have withdrawn from the auction, or not put their names in, which is also interesting.
You released Venkatesh Iyer after buying him for 23.5 cr last year. Post the mega-auction, you'd mentioned that you don't buy a player and release to buy him back cheap, as that's not how you operate. What changed?
Mysore: As I said at the start of our conversation, auctions create this, call it confusion or whatever, at times. I mean if he had scored 500 runs, he would've said, "hey, price tag doesn't matter at all." Maybe it did (grins), and it weighed (on Venkatesh). He probably had his worst year by his standards with us since 2021. The thought process that goes through the franchise think-tank at the table is, what would you rather do? And I have as much money as possible and flexibility to engineer that whichever way you want, or just go in there and be at the mercy of whatever. And so last year, in many ways, it was a bit of a learning thing for us; it was purely very, very circumstantial. I mean this is probably the first time we have done something like that: picked a big player at price, that was quite exciting. Now, because of the mini-auction dynamics rather than anything else, we decided to release him.
In a recent interview, Rajasthan Royals lead owner Manoj Badale said he enjoys the challenge and unpredictability the mega-auction presents. What is your view on the mega-auction?
Mysore: We have made our position very, very clear when last year we franchises had a big discussion with IPL around retention and various other significant topics. We said you cannot be punishing franchises who have worked very, very hard to build teams to identify talent, develop them and have had success. And suddenly you are saying that's it, let's do a mega auction every three years.
After 18-19 years of the league, this shouldn't be happening. I'm not a fan of the viewpoint around equalising and this surprise element and all that. It doesn't make any sense, to be honest. It doesn't help the league, it doesn't help the whole fan community. I mean this is the reason why the retention rule got created. In the very first auction that I attended, in 2011, there was not supposed to be any retention, but it was introduced because there were some key players that certain franchises didn't want to release.
The original plan was every three years everybody goes into the auction. Not that I disagree with that, I agree with that retention principle, but the principle of it is really that you are rewarding teams for having developed players, built that team, built that franchise, and connected with the fan base and working through it.
And imagine you go win a championship and then you get dismantled after that. Or what happens is that the punishment for having good players to retain is so high that you see teams coming in with huge purses to the auction. We all had equal opportunity. And how could that be good for the league, this type of churn? So I'm not in the camp which says auctions are exciting.
So maximum retention for you?
Mysore: There should not be a big auction at all in my opinion. What we recommended was, if you want, you have a mini-auction every year, which means that you have rights to hold onto the player. Of course, that comes with certain questions. Immediately people will say, oh, but what about the players? You pick somebody for 50 lakhs and in that three-year cycle they've done exceedingly well. But I said, that will not be the reason for you to have an auction.
You should create a different system for that. The system should be that everybody's spending the same salary cap. You allow the teams to renegotiate salaries if there was going to be a situation like that where you want to reward somebody who's coming with a 50-lakhs player who has done exceedingly well for you. I mean Venkatesh Iyer was 20 lakhs when we picked him, but he takes us to the final in 2021, almost single-handedly. So then he gets rewarded when the retention thing came in, which is great. As long as you are within the salary cap, you renegotiate your salaries internally.
How would you do that?
Mysore: I would be sitting with him and saying, boss, this is what I think we can do. You go to the auction, who knows what your auction price could be? If I'm allowed to do that, and if the player doesn't agree, then there is a release discussion. Say we got a player at 18 crore at the previous auction, but we want to now negotiate that to 12 crore for the next season. If the player says fine, we can then take the extra money and redistribute the difference with other players who have performed exceedingly well and deserve a higher fee. In theory the auction does that, but what happens there is that the franchise loses its option because somebody else is waiting with more money.
You can see how some of our players from the championship year ended up with other franchises at the last mega-auction. So if I'm allowed through this system, where I can renegotiate directly, as long as I stay within my overall salary cap and the subject to the players agreeing, why not?
But let's say the player doesn't agree. Another franchise could influence him and say you get released. You think that will not happen en masse?
Mysore: Correct, that could happen, but not en masse. And that player actually will realise that if not too many teams are releasing, there may not be big money in the mini auction, right? I mean the players feel they can get more only because there are teams releasing players and coming with lot of money, like us this year. But if this system was implemented, many of the teams will probably work in such a way based on the relationships they have with the players and what the intangibles that the franchise has to offer in terms of the environment, how they are taking care of, and the success and things like that.
But the system you are suggesting needs to be transparent and equitable for players.
Mysore: These are all solvable problems. For example, an uncapped Indian player's fee increases automatically the moment he becomes capped. So there is a system to readjust that anyway already. We just need to apply our minds and solutions can be found.
Should the auction purse then be increased accordingly?
Mysore: No. I've always maintained this, the player fees expands to meet the salary cap. And then when you look at the highest that somebody gets, everyone is flabbergasted and say, "oh my God, 23 cr, 24 cr!" I told them, "Listen, you go back to any auction, the highest that a player gets is typically 20-25% of the salary cap. If the salary cap 125 crore, they're getting 25 crore. So don't be surprised because it's just the dynamics of competition." People are all sitting on money and will be raising the paddle based on how much money they have left in their kitty. So raising salary cap is not changing anything. It is just increasing or inflating the player fees and skewing the upper end. So that's not something that we would advocate at all.
But the player will say 'I am a key stakeholder, too. The IPL and franchises are profiting due to my performance.' So why should the player not command a good price?
Mysore: Yeah, fair enough. The counter to that is to say, let's pay for performance then. Let's make the fixed fee a very low fee and have a performance incentive built in there so a player can say, "Listen, I'm performing and therefore I should get paid." Fair enough. But by the same token, somebody right now is getting a high fee but the performance is well below par, it's not like we are cutting the fees, we're not. So it's still at a nascent stage in that sense. But the idea is you shouldn't kill the goose that's laying the golden egg. Franchise sports has existed around the world for decades. So they've all done circles around this subject and come back with plans and ideas on how everything can be structured. So we can borrow a lot of these things so we don't have to reinvent the wheel.