Kolkata Knight Riders bought Madhya Pradesh opener Venkatesh Iyer for a whopping Rs. 23.75 crore for the IPL 2025, making him the third-highest expensive player in the mega-auction Jeddah Saudi Arabia on Sunday. 

Venkatesh, a key player for defending champion KKR, was initially released but later re-signed by the franchise. But KKR after losing Shreyas Iyer drove for Iyer and bought him at an astronomical price. 

Venkatesh had been KKR’s standout performer during its victorious campaign last season, notably scoring the joint-fastest fifty in an IPL final against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The top two most expensive players at the auction were Rishabh Pant, acquired by Lucknow Super Giants for ₹27.00 crore, and Shreyas Iyer, who joined Punjab Kings for ₹26.75 crore.

However, KKR made some interesting buys on the first day of the mega-auctions. The defending champions arrived in Jeddah with a purse of Rs 51 crore to fill 19 available slots, including 6 overseas players. An additional Rs 12 crore has been deducted from the team’s account due to IPL 2025 retention rules. 

The Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise retained the likes of Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh.