Nitish Rana named interim captain of Kolkata Knight Riders in place of injured Shreyas Iyer
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have appointed Nitish Rana as their interim captain for the upcoming IPL 2023 season, with regular skipper Shreyas Iyer out with a back injury that may keep him sidelined for the first half of the tournament.
Nitish Rana named KKR captain
Rana, who has been with KKR since 2018, was chosen ahead of Sunil Narine for the role of interim captain. Narine recently led Abu Dhabi Knight Riders to a last-place finish in the International League T20, with just one win and eight losses.
Rana’s credentials as captain
Rana has led his state team Delhi in 12 T20s in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, winning eight matches and losing four. The 29-year-old middle-order batter has played 74 matches for KKR, scoring 1,744 runs at a strike rate of 135.61.
In a statement, KKR said, “While we are hopeful that Shreyas will recover and participate at some stage in the IPL 2023 edition, we feel fortunate that Nitish, with the captaincy experience of having led his state side in white-ball cricket and the IPL experience he has had with KKR since 2018, will do a great job.”
Rana was KKR’s second-highest run-scorer in the previous season, behind Shreyas, with 361 runs at a strike rate of 143.82. Last year, the team finished seventh in the league with six wins and eight losses.
With Rana taking over as captain, KKR will have a whole new leadership this season. Chandrakant Pandit has replaced Brendon McCullum as head coach, and Bharat Arun has been appointed as the bowling coach.
Best wishes for Rana and a speedy recovery for Iyer
“We are also confident that under head coach Chandrakant Pandit and the support staff, he will get all the support needed off the field, and the highly experienced leaders in the squad will provide all support that Nitish may need on the field,” KKR added in their statement. “We wish him the best in his new role and Shreyas a full and speedy recovery.”
The interim captaincy role will be a huge test for Rana, who will need to lead by example and motivate his team to perform well in the absence of their regular captain. KKR’s fans will be hoping that Rana can inspire the team to better their performance from the previous season and challenge for the IPL title.
