There will be a mini auction in December before the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League, before that the retention list will be released tomorrow on Saturday. Before this, Kolkata Knight Riders team has taken a big step. After the appointment of Shane Watson on Thursday, the team announced on Friday that Tim Southee has been appointed as the bowling coach.

Kolkata Knight Riders has appointed Abhishek Nair as the head coach, who has replaced Chandrakant Pandit. The franchise had announced on Thursday that former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson has been appointed as the assistant coach. On the appointment, Watson had said, “It is a great honor for me to be a part of such an iconic franchise like Kolkata Knight Riders.” Now Tim Saudi has entered KKR as another foreign coach, who has played for the franchise for 3 years.

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Welcome back, Tim Southee pic.twitter.com/if2YNGwLCC

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) November 14, 2025

Tim Saudi has played 14 matches for KKR

Saudi played a total of 14 matches for Kolkata Knight Riders from 2021 to 2023, in which he has a total of 19 wickets in his name. The 2022 edition was brilliant for him, where he took 14 wickets in 9 matches.

KKR Squad (before the release of retention list)

• Rinku Singh (13 crores)
• Andre Russell (12 crores)
• Sunil Narine (12 crores)
• Varun Chakraborty (12 crores)
• Harshit Rana (4 crores)
• Ramandeep Singh (4 crores)
• Angkrish Raghuvanshi (3 crores)
• Rovman Powell (1.50 crore)
• Manish Pandey (75 lakhs)
• Ajinkya Rahane (1.50 crore)
• Quinton de Kock (3.60 crores)
• Rahmanullah Gurbaz (2 crores)
• Lavnith Sisodia (30 crores)
• Venkatesh Iyer (23.75 crores)
• Anukul Roy (40 crores)
• Moeen Ali (2 crores)
• Mayank Markande (30 lakhs)
• Anrich Nortje (6.50 crores)
• Vaibhav Arora (1.80 crore)
• Spencer Johnson (2.80 crores)
• Umran Malik (75 lakhs)

Arjun Tendulkar, son of Sachin Tendulkar, known as the God of Cricket, was bought by Mumbai Indians at his base price in the mega auction held for the last edition. Although Arjun did not play a single match in 2025, now a mini auction is going to be held in December before IPL 2026. The retention list will be released on November 15 and it will be clear which franchise has retained and released which player. Meanwhile, big news is coming that Mumbai can leave Arjun Tendulkar.

Which player will Mumbai Indians replace Arjun Tendulkar?

According to the report of Cricbuzz, talks are going on between Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants regarding Arjun Tendulkar and Shardul Thakur. The report quoted sources as saying that there could be an exchange of the two, although it could be a complete cash transfer.

According to IPL trade rules, only BCCI can officially announce any transfer, so perhaps both the franchises do not want to say anything. A source associated with Mumbai Cricket has confirmed to Cricbuzz that there is a possibility of a trade between these two. Its announcement may be made in a few days.

How was Shardul Thakur last season? Display

Shardul Thakur remained unsold in the mega auction held last year, after which Lucknow Super Giants made him a part of their squad as a replacement for Rs 2 crore. Thakur played a total of 10 matches in the 2025 edition, in which he took 13 wickets. Thakur also bats well, although he did not make any significant contribution with the bat in the last edition.

Talking about Arjun Tendulkar, he did not get a chance to play even a single match in the last edition. Arjun has been with Mumbai since the first season (2023), but could not leave much of an impact. In 2023, Arjun played 4 matches, in which he took a total of 3 wickets. In 2024, he got to play only 1 match, in which he could not take any wicket.

There is good news for the fans of MS Dhoni and Chennai Super Kings. Dhoni has made it clear that he will be available for IPL 2026. There were many questions regarding his fitness, Dhoni had also earlier said that he will decide in November-December whether he will be able to play in the next season or not. CSK CEO Kasi Vishwanathan has confirmed to Cricbuzz that Dhoni will play in 2026 also.

MS Dhoni has been playing for this team since the first edition of IPL, the team has won all 5 titles under his captaincy. Currently the command is in the hands of Ruturaj Gaikwad. Since Dhoni retired from international cricket in 2020, rumors of his retirement from IPL have been rife every year. This time too, Dhoni’s fans need not be disappointed, because he himself has said that he will be available in the next season.

What did Kasi Vishwanathan say about MS Dhoni?

Kasi Vishwanathan, like Dhoni, has also been associated with this franchise since the first edition (IPL 2008), he told about Dhoni’s availability. Vishwanathan told Cricbuzz, “MS Dhoni has told us that he will be available for the next season.”

CSK meeting may be held on 10th and 11th November

Chennai Super Kings can once again discuss a trade deal with Sanju Samson. A meeting of team captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, coach Stephen Fleming, CEO and other officials can be held on 10 and 11 November. In this there will be discussion on retention and release players.

The IPL auction for IPL 2026 will take place in mid-December, it may happen in the third week. Before that, the deadline for all the franchises to submit the list of their retention and released players is 15th November. The venue of IPL auction is still under discussion, it is likely to be held outside India in UAE.