India, Nov. 18 -- Kolkata Knight Riders reach the IPL 2026 auction as a paradox: champions not long ago, now carrying the biggest purse and one of the thinnest cores. After stuttering in their 2025 title defence, they have trimmed the squad to 12, pushed several big names into the auction pool, and effectively declared this a controlled reset rather than a minor tune-up.

But was the ruthlessness intelligent or impulsive? To answer that, we will use RVS - Retention Value Score and RRS - Release Risk Score.

RVS (Retention Value Score) - scale of 1-10; 1- poor value retention, 10 - elite value (impact + scarcity + price)

RRS (Release Risk Score) - scale of 1-10; 1 = almost no chance of regret, 10 = very high chance the cut backfires.

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