The defending champions of the Indian Premier League (IPL), going into the 2025 season of the tournament, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), look to add a new captain for the side, as they have ended the relationship with their former leaders of the side, Shreyas Iyer, who desired to go into the mega auction of the competition.
KKR had a very smooth and sweet time in the previous year of the event when they earned the top spot of the league points table with the help of nine victories in 14 cashes with a net run rate of +1.428. The dream journey, followed by their incredible unbeaten road over the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the playoffs, pushed them to their third title of the event.
This was the first trophy of the franchise after a wait of ten years. Iyer, the captain, had an excellent time with the mentor Gautam Gambhir in the purple family as they kept on getting the better of their opponents regularly.
Nitish Rana is locked as the new potential captain of KKR in IPL 2025
Before the mega auction of the league, the franchise has gone on to retain six players from their previous squad. The two premier West Indies all-rounders, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell, are top, on the list. Both of them have contributed so much over the years to the franchise.
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The middle order batter for KKR, Rinku Singh, cracked 168 runs last season in the IPL in just 11 innings at a strike rate of over 148. The dream season for the left-handed batter came in 2023 when he belted 474 runs in 14 innings at an average of around 60 with a strike rate of 150.
Along with him, the three-time champions retained the mystery spinner of India, Varun Chakaravarthy, for the new season, besides keeping the two uncapped players. Harshit Rana, the right-arm pace bowler, earned so much success for them in the entire season, thanks to the wickets he picked at the crucial stages of the game.
Ramandeep Singh, the other uncapped player, got his maiden game for the Blue Brigade against South Africa at the Super Sports Park in Centurion and bashed the very first ball for a six, becoming only the second batter after Suryakumar Yadav to do so in international T20s.
Now the question stands, who could be the potential captain for KKR? Recent reports have claimed Nitish Rana, the left-handed top-order batter for the franchise in the past, could be in for the captaincy department in the future. They are not expected to go extravagantly for an overseas captain.
Rana got so much respect from Gambhir-led coaching staff due to the way he handled the team during the absence of Iyer in 2023. He has clubbed 2636 runs in the league in 101 innings at an average of 28.65 and a strike rate of over 135, shouldering on 18 half-centuries at a best score of 87 runs.
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Injury in the opening game of the last season ruled him out of the tournament for the most portion. In 2023, he smacked 413 runs in 14 innings at an average of 31.76 with a strike rate of more than 140, shouldering on three half-centuries at the best score of 75 runs. Except for the previous edition, the batter has collected over 300 runs in every single season since 2017 in the IPL.
The auction dynamics could change the whole equation, but if the reports are to be believed, then the eyes of the KKR management will firmly be on Nitish on November 24 during the mega auction.
