In retaining four players, the Knight Riders have already invested 34 crores. Andre Russell has been retained for INR 12 crores, Varun Chakravarthy for INR 8 crores, Venkatesh Iyer for INR 8 crores, and Sunil Narine for INR 6 crores. Shreyas Iyer predictably became the highest-paid player among the marquee set with Kolkata Knight Riders making a whopping bid of Rs 12.25 crore after a severe price war at the Indian Premier League auction on Saturday.  Iyer’s entry in the KKR fold confirms a captaincy candidate for them while the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned franchise also got back their Australia spearhead Pat Cummins for half the price at Rs 7.25 crore. On Day 2, it was prior India Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane who was bought by the Knight Riders for his basis price of Rs 1 crore.