KKR reaches out to Mitchell Starc after he reveals being ghosted: 'Still waiting for a response...'

KKR made some strategic retentions for the upcoming IPL 2025 season, with a total of six players being retained. Rinku Singh was the highest retention at a whopping INR 13 crore, followed closely by Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, and Varun Chakaravarthy who were all retained for INR 12 crore each. Additionally, KKR re-signed two promising uncapped players, Ramandeep Singh and Harshit Rana, for INR 4 crore each. With this strong core group of players, KKR is gearing up for a successful season ahead.

Starc, who picked 17 wickets in the last season for the defending champions, including a match-winning performance of 2/14 in the final, was among those players who were released by the franchise. However, the Aussie never heard from the franchise even days after they submitted their final IPL retention list.

“I still haven’t heard from them (KKR)...," said Starc told Australia's The Daily Telegraph.

Following Starc's revelation, Times of India tried to reach out to KKR CEO Mysore to confirm the remark, but not only did he not respond to the text, he also blocked the contact on WhatsApp.

On the eve of the deadline date for the IPL retention, the website reported that Iyer finally had some conversation with KKR. It was understood to have happened over the previous weekend after no approach from the franchise.

"As of last Friday, the two parties hadn't spoken. There was lot of word going around on Shreyas Iyer and KKR but the two never sat across the table to have any discussion with regards to the plans for future or the IPL retentions. The first conversation happened on Sunday," said a source close to developments.

Despite what reports may say, Mysore insisted that the franchise did engage in conversations with each of the platers pertaining to the retention.

"First and foremost, I think our approach has always been to maintain transparency and have proper conversations with everyone. I've not only had conversations with the six we have retained, but I have also engaged in conversations with the ones we couldn't retain. Obviously I am aware of some of the narratives that have been going around. It’s sufficient to say that, we always engage in talks with everyone and most people understand our position," Mysore was quoted by KKR.in.