India batter and his wife take a savage swipe at KKR after IPL 2025 auction snub: 'Not everyone can afford... royalty'

India batsman Nitish Rana and his wife delivered a scathing blow to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) following the team's decision to not retain him in the mega auction for the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Jeddah. Despite being a key member of KKR for six years, Rana was picked up by Rajasthan Royals for a hefty sum of INR 4.20 crore.

Rana was an integral part of the KKR set-up since 2018. In fact, he was even elevated to the captaincy role in 2023 after regular skipper Shreyas Iyer missed out on that season owing to his recovery from a back injury. He was a consistent run-getter for KKR, scoring more than 200 runs in each of the seasons, barring 2024, where he played only two games amid injury concerns. In fact, his run in 2020 and 2021 helped him crack into the Indian white-ball team, earning him a debut cap in both T20I and ODI during the tour of Sri Lanka in July 2021.

Despite his contributions, KKR did not retain him ahead of the auction, nor did they place a bid for him or go for the Right-To-Match card, leaving Rana disappointed.

His wife, Saachi Marwah took to social media to share a cryptic post saying: "Loyalty is very expensive, not everyone can afford it." As the post went viral on social media, Rana made his move by sharing an Instagram story, where he wore a pink shirt and captioned it: “Royal-ty is pink!”

As many as three franchises were keen on acquiring Rana at the auction. Chennai Super Kings were the first to raise the paddle when Rana was presented for a base price of INR 1.50 crore, before finding themselves in a bidding war with Rajasthan Royals. Royal Challengers Bengaluru joined in shortly after, but the 2008 IPL champion eventually outlasted both CSK and RCB with their final bid of INR 4.20 crore.

This will be the third franchise for Rana, who had started his IPL journey in Mumbai Indians in 2015.