IPL 2023: 3 Captaincy Options for KKR Who Can Lead in the Absence of Shreyas Iyer

The 16th edition of the Indian Premier League is set to begin in less than two weeks’ time. It will kickstart on March 31 with the defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) taking on the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Even before the start some of the franchises will be without some of their key players who are set to miss the league due to their respective injuries.  Some of the big names include Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, Kyle Jamieson, Jhye Richardson, etc. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Shreyas Iyer could possibly be the latest addition to that list. 

The right-handed batter was ruled out of the fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 in Ahmedabad, due to recurring back pain and was immediately sent for precautionary scans by the medical team. This injury didn’t allow him to take any further part in the match. Due to that injury, he was removed from the ongoing three-match ODI series against Australia.

With him not there on the field, it’s not just a cause of concern for the Indian Cricket Team but also for his IPL franchise- Kolkata Knight Riders. There hasn’t been any clarification with regard to his injury and also there is no time frame for his return to the field. As there is uncertainty regarding his participation in the league, let’s have a look at the possible captaincy options for KKR for the IPL 2023 season in case Iyer remains on the sidelines for the entire season.

Top Captaincy Options for KKR:

3) Andre Russell

The Caribbean all-rounder was roped in by KKR before the 2014 edition but seems like he has been around the KKR camp since forever. There is no doubt over the fact that he has been a match-winner for them. With the bat and ball, he has won several crucial games in the T20 tournament due to which KKR has backed him for so long now. He knows the team inside out and understands how the team runs.

With all his experience of playing in T20 leagues around the world, Russell is a plausible option for KKR captaincy. The Jamaican has previously led the Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League and is considered an active and influential figure in the KKR camp. If the big-hitting all-rounder is fit to feature in all games then KKR can hand the captaincy baton to him.

2) Sunil Narine

Like Russell, Narine too has been with KKR for a long time now. Due to his long-term association with the Knight Riders family, he was given the responsibility to lead the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, KKR’s sister franchise in the inaugural ILT20 earlier this year. Although the results were far from pleasing with the team finishing at the bottom of the table with just 1 win in 10 games, the spin wizard must have learned something from that stint.

Narine is a street-smart customer with the ball in hand and has got a brilliant cricketing brain as well. In addition to all this, he’s a veteran at KKR and if the two-time IPL winners go with experience then there are good chances that Narine will lead the Knight Riders in Iyer’s absence. His record in the toughest T20 league has been exceptional, he has taken 152 wickets in his IPL career and since his KKR debut in 2012, he has been instrumental in the team’s two championship wins.

1) Nitish Rana

Should the two-time IPL winners be adamant on selecting an Indian skipper, Rana could very well make the cut. This could be possible with new head coach Chandrakant Pandit at the helm. The head coach generally tends to back the players from the Indian domestic circuit. Rana may seem like a very unlikely option for many to lead such a powerful and star-studded IPL team but is worth taking a risk on. With not many quality-capped Indian batters in the squad, Rana’s position in KKR’s playing XI is assured.

Rana has been at KKR since 2018 and has developed into one of their mainstays. The left-handed stylish batter has amassed over 2181 runs at a healthy strike rate of 134, and can also chip in with his handy off-spin bowling. Giving him additional responsibility might actually affect his performance in a positive way as a player. Having served as Delhi’s first-class captain, Rana is not new to the role of captaincy. If the Knight Riders are skeptical about making a foreign player their captain, Rana seems to be the frontrunner for the job.