The intense bidding war on some of world’s cricket biggest names had taken the cricketing fraternity by storm in the recently concluded IPL auction. From Dale Steyn and Joe Root going unsold to Ben Stokes and KL Rahul fetching 12.50 crores and 11 crores respectively, franchises looked quite purposeful with their picks.

However, one decision that came as a surprise to many was Kolkata Knight Riders not using the Right to Match card for Gautam Gambhir. There were speculations that the veteran left-hander had urged the KKR team management to not bid for him and now CEO Venky Mysore has confirmed the same.

In a video posted by KKR’s official Twitter handle, Mysore said: “He was very much in our plans for the auctions via RTM, but he had a conversation with us well before. He felt that there might be a different challenge before (him), we don’t know what it was. And (he) requested if we would refrain from bidding for him or using Right To Match. And we said we will never come in the way of anyone’s progress or anyone’s aspirations. We’re sorry to see him go, seven great years.”

It is pertinent to mention here that Gambhir wasn’t retained by the KKR management as they opted to secure the services for Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.

During his seven-year stint with KKR as a captain, Gambhir has led the team from the front and has played an instrumental role in winning them the 2012 and 2014 trophy. Before playing for Kolkata, the southpaw has represented Delhi Daredevils from 2008 to 2010 and now he will play in the next edition of IPL Gambhir will play for his home franchise as well.

KKR squad for IPL 2018:

Andre Russell (WI), Sunil Narine (WI), Mitchell Starc (AUS), Chris Lynn (AUS), Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill, Ishank JaggI, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Nitish Rana, Vinay Kumar, Apoorv Wankhade, Rinku Singh, Shivam Mavi, Cameron Delport (SA), Mitchell Johnson (AUS), Javon Searless (WI)