"The straight answer is Abhishek Nayar" - Mohammad Kaif's huge claim on star all-rounder being released by KKR ahead of IPL 2026 Auction

Former batter Mohammad Kaif made a huge claim on star all-rounder Andre Russell being released by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of the IPL 2026 auction. Kaif believed that his release was not the right decision taken by the franchise.

Russell was retained for ₹12 crore before IPL 2025. He scored 167 runs in 10 innings at a strike-rate of 163.72 and bagged eight wickets from nine innings. While his form was not as expected, Mohammad Kaif reckoned that the experience of a player like Russell in the IPL was key. He claimed that the call would have been taken by their new head coach, Abhishek Nayar.

"Russell's release is not right. You had him at 12 crore and that is not a big amount really for a player like him. He is once in a generation player. Yes he was out of form but later on he scored runs too. But as coaches change, they bring some changes. I think this was a big call. You can say he was not at his peak but I feel this is such a format, specially in the IPL, where experienced players do well and there are many examples. I feel the straight answer to his release is Abhishek Nayar. He wants to make his own team now. But this was an astonishing call," he said on his YouTube channel.

With a huge purse of ₹64.3 crore, KKR are expected to go all out for Australian all-rounder Cameron Green. However, Mohammad Kaif reckoned that even four players like Green could not match Russell in terms of quality and power and urged the franchise to buy the West Indian all-rounder back.

"The quality and power that Russell has, even four players like Green cannot cover that. The way he plays, he can hit 100m sixes as per will and he has won them so many games from situations where the game seemed lost. He got that respect because of this ability. There are very few players like him at number seven. If you play Green at seven, he cannot score even half the runs of Russell, he bats up the order. I feel they should buy Russell back."

Overall, in the IPL, Russell has played 140 matches. He has scored 2651 runs at a strike-rate of 174.17 with 12 half-centuries. With the ball, he has bagged 123 wickets.

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Mohammad Kaif on Venkatesh Iyer's release

Another massive release by KKR was also that of Venkatesh Iyer. He was acquired for a huge amount of ₹23.75 crore. However, his performance did not match the price tag. He scored just 142 runs in 11 matches at a strike-rate of 139.21.

While his release was right, Mohammad Kaif reflected that bringing in Venkatesh Iyer at such a high price last year was a wrong move by the coaches and management. He added that they must also be questioned and not just the player.

"The call to release Venkatesh Iyer was right. He was never a 20 crore player. You increased his price then you say he did not do well. We blame the player but what about the management? We must question them too. You got Tom Moody in your staff who has done nothing in the recent past, but you tell a player that he did not do well and release him. If coaches are not doing well, what are their chances of a comeback too? This is a grey area. Venkatesh Iyer's call at a high price was wrong," he said.

Mohammad Kaif praised KKR for holding back the majority of their Indian players and maintaining the core. They retained the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, and Varun Chakaravarthy.

Mohammad Kaif believed that they had a solid Indian core and therefore did not have to back a lot of overseas players. Understandably so, Anrich Nortje, Moeen Ali, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, and Spencer Johnson were all released.

Edited by Rishab Vm