Two weeks after the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) told Karan Lal that they’d be closely following his performances, he smashed a 43-ball hundred in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The all-rounder smashed 10 sixes and eight boundaries in his 113 off 50 balls as Bengal chased down 212 versus Himachal Pradesh.Sportskeeda has reliably learnt that the Knight Riders have taken note in bold of Karan’s maiden century on Tuesday, December 2. The 25-year-old was called to the KKR trials in Mumbai from November 17 to 20, a week before the start of SMAT 2025-26. And the management present seemed to be impressed with the Bengal star after the three practice matches.Karan Lal hit the ground running with a blazing 52 off 23 balls at No. 4 in the first game. The off-spinning all-rounder also bowled an over in the powerplay, albeit without any success. He followed it up with 32 from the same slot in the next match. Also present at the camp were Delhi captain Yash Dhull and former KKR star Rahul Tripathi. Karan dismissed them both in the 17th over and gave away only three runs. He didn’t get either batting or bowling in the final game. View this post on Instagram Instagram PostFollowing a mass layoff, KKR will be in search of Indian top-order batters in the IPL 2026 auction scheduled for December 16 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. In Karan Lal, teams would have someone who can bat all across the board and also bowl quality off-spin pretty much anytime in the innings. Incidentally, he had attended the Mumbai Indians (MI) trials for IPL 2022 but to no avail.Karan has grown into a six-hitting machine. He’s smashed 15 sixes in four matches in the Mushtaq Ali this season, behind only Abhishek Sharma, Ayush Mhatre, and Rohan Kunnummal. Last year, he was the fifth-highest run-getter with 338 runs at a strike rate of 161.72 and hit 18 maximums, the same as Team India star Abhishek.Karan topped the charts in the Bengal Pro T20 League in June with 16 sixes from eight matches at Eden Gardens. He was also the leading scorer with 255 runs, to go with his seven wickets. Captaining Barisha Sporting Club in CAB’s local JC Mukherjee T20 Tournament, he has hit 13 sixes and taken six wickets in the seven matches he’s played this season.Karan Lal's performance in major T20 tournaments since the start of 2024:TournamentInningsRunsHighestAverageStrike rate4s6sWicketsSMAT 25/26417311343.25205.9511151SMAT 24/259 33894*42.25161.7235186BPL 20258 2556831.88134.2119167BPL 20248 19262*27.42133.341978Opening the batting has massively helped Karan Lal play freely. He’s faced the new red cherry in five of his 14 innings in the Ranji Trophy. On his Bengal debut in the 2021/22 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he played at No. 3 before being dropped after a few matches. He was then deployed in the lower-middle order as a finisher, a role he couldn’t quite make his own.His returns in the Bengal Pro T20 League were also underwhelming. Things changed when Lux Shyam Kolkata Tigers asked him to open in the third match of the 2024 season. He responded with three consecutive Player of the Match awards and hasn’t looked back since.KKR retention and releases ahead of IPL 2026 auctionKKR won their third IPL trophy in 2024KKR Retained players: Rinku Singh (₹13 crore), Varun Chakaravarthy (₹12 crore), Sunil Narine (₹12 crore), Harshit Rana (₹4 crore), Ramandeep Singh (₹4 crore), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (₹3 crore), Vaibhav Arora (₹1.8 crore), Rovman Powell (₹1.5 crore), Ajinkya Rahane (₹1.5 crore), Manish Pandey (₹75 lakh), Umran Malik (₹75 lakh), Anukul Roy (₹40 lakh)KKR Released players: Venkatesh Iyer (₹23.75 crore), Andre Russell (₹12 crore), Anrich Nortje (₹6.5 crore), Quinton de Kock (₹3.6 crore), Spencer Johnson (₹2.8 crore), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (₹2 crore), Moeen Ali (₹2 crore), Chetan Sakariya (₹75 lakh), Luvnith Sisodia (₹30 lakh), Mayank Markande (traded to MI)