India batter Nitish Rana has said that he has served defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders for the last seven years and he wants to continue playing for the franchise, even as chances of him being retained don't look very bright. He added that he has left the decision to the team management, mentioning that he hasn't received any calls from anyone yet.

Rana has become a crucial part of Kolkata over the last six years. But with a mega auction coming up and franchises being permitted to retain six players at the most, it is highly unlikely that he will be kept back.

In IPL 2023, Rana stood in for the injured Shreyas Iyer as skipper but Kolkata could only finish seventh, winning just six out of their 14 games.

"I have been serving KKR for the past seven years. It's not in my hands if I will be retained; it's up to KKR management to decide. I haven't received any calls yet. I have scored runs for KKR every year and if they consider me an asset, they will retain me," Rana said while speaking to The Times of India.

The 30-year-old batter injured himself during IPL 2024 and could play just two matches. Meanwhile, the likes of Ramandeep Singh and Angkrish Raghuvanshi made good cases for themselves, although their chances of being retained are slim as well.

Who Can Be Kolkata Knight Riders' Potential Retentions?

With a tournament-winning squad at their disposal, KKR are supposed to have the hardest time in letting their players go. Some expected retentions for them are IPL 2024 MVP Sunil Narine, Phil Salt, Venkatesh Iyer, skipper Shreyas Iyer, Varun Chakravarthy and Andre Russell.

In that case, rising pacer Harshit Rana misses out which will not be good news for KKR. The latest retention rules say that every franchise can retain a maximum of six players through a combination of retention and Right to Match.

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