IPL 2025: Why Kolkata Knight Riders would target in-form Jos Buttler in Mega Auction?

Heading into the IPL 2025 Mega Auction, Jos Buttler can become a serious option for the defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders. The Englishman was not retained by Rajasthan Royals and has found his place in the Mega Auction. While the destructive opener will be on the radar for each and every team, he can be an exceptional catch for the Kolkata outfits for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League.

Rajasthan Royals shocked everyone when they didn’t retain Jos Buttler on IPL Retention Day. The Englishman has been a part of the outfits for the last 3 years. Albeit not up to the mark last season, it was hoped that RR would keep their faith in the 34-year star.

But now as things stand, Rajasthan Royals can’t even use RTM for Buttler. Rajasthan has already retained 6 players meaning they have no RTMs left and the only way they can have Buttler is if they try to re-buy the player, which at this moment looks highly unlikely.

KKR & Jos Buttler – A Perfect Fit?

In the meantime, Kolkata Knight Riders too have retained 6 players excluding top-order batters like Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, and Nitish Rana. And with the defending champions eyeing a strong opener, Jos Buttler would definitely be a perfect player. He can easily open the account for KKR with Sunil Narine.

The inclusion of a power hitter like Buttler will also give an added advantage for Sunil Narine. The duo’s left-right-handed combo can work wonders. Furthermore, it will give less added pressure on the Caribbean all-rounder to score runs.

Jos Buttler’s aggressive approach has seen him play his best for Rajasthan Royals in 2022. He went on to amass 863 runs from 17 games with 4 centuries to his name. His form dipped in 2023 but he made it up last season with some dependable knocks. Amidst his not-so-good form, Buttler continued having a strong strike rate of around 140 over the last 2 seasons.

Lastly, Buttler is currently in top form in international cricket. It would be a no-brainer for KKR to go for the English man in the Mega Auction. Furthermore, the inclusion of Buttler will not only give stability but also build the core for KKR middle order batters to build on from the innings that he will score.

Jos Buttler in IPL over last 3 years

Year	Mat	Runs	Avg	SR	100	50	4s	6s
2024	11	359	39.89	140.78	2	0	36	12
2023	14	392	28	139.01	0	4	42	14
2022	17	863	57.53	149.05	4	4	83	45