The name of Venkatesh Iyer was doing the rounds for the captaincy role when IPL defending champions let go of captain Shreyas Iyer ahead of the mega auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in November last year. And Iyer had recently stated that he would be willing to lead KKR if asked.
But the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned franchise sprang a surprise on Monday when they named veteran Mumbai batsman Ajinkya Rahane as captain for the forthcoming campaign.
The Kolkata-based league, who have won the IPL title thrice, in 2012, 2014 and 2024 have clearly chosen the experience of Rahane over the exuberance of youth in Venkatesh Iyer, who was named the vice-captain.
As far as KKR is concerned, Venkatesh Iyer is a player for the future. After a few seasons with KKR, Venkatesh Iyer had to go to the auction pool this time, but KKR managed to bring him back for an incredible Rs 23.75 crore.
Coincidentally, the name Rinku Singh was also doing the rounds. However, it was speculated that the free-flowing Rinku might have been slowed down by the demands of captaincy.
Rahane is renowned for his astute cricketing intellect, and has previously captained the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. Rahane, who has previously played for KKR, was purchased at his base price of Rs 1.5 crore at the auction in Jeddah.
Despite his reputation as a red-ball player, Rahane has recently reinvented himself as a noteworthy T20 batsman and topped the run charts in Mumbai's incredible season in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament.
Rahane was instrumental in helping the Royals get off to strong starts as an opener in his earlier years in the IPL.
Rahane has numerous accomplishments as captain, none bigger than guiding India to victory in a Test series in Australia in the 2020–21 season. He led Mumbai to the Ranji Trophy semifinals this year.
Rahane has played 185 IPL matches so far, scoring 4642 runs with two hundreds and a highest score of an unbeaten 105 at an average of 30.14 and a strike rate of 123.42.
As captain, Rahane has scored 583 runs from 25 matches with a highest score of 70 at an average of 25.34 and a strike rate of 122.22.
As far as Shreyas Iyer is concerned, he has found a new home in Punjab Kings.
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