Nitish Rana to Lead KKR in the Absence of Shreyas Iyer’s Injury

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have appointed Nitish Rana as their stand-in captain for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2023). Regular skipper Shreyas Iyer is recovering from a back injury he sustained during the fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 in Ahmedabad.

Amid all the speculations around Iyer’s interim replacement as the captain of the Knight Riders, the Kolkata management did surprise many by announcing Rana as their captain. Earlier, it was reported that Sunil Narine or Andre Russell; two KKR veterans might take up the role but newly appointed head coach Chandrakant Pandit has gone with an Indian option in Nitish Rana. It is pertinent to note that CricTips reported that Rana will be the top contender to replace Iyer for the captaincy role.

Rana may not have experience of leading an IPL franchise but he certainly has experience of leadership. Having led his state team-Delhi in the past, Rana will be looking to make the most of the given opportunity cometh the IPL. His first assignment at the helm will be against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) on April 1 in Mohali. 

KKR Hopeful of Iyer’s Return

“Kolkata Knight Riders today announced that Nitish Rana would captain the side in the absence of Shreyas Iyer, who is recovering from a back injury. 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 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. 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,” said a KKR release read.

Meanwhile, Iyer continues to recover from the back injury. KKR management is hopeful of him taking part in the league at some stage but it remains to be seen when they will have Iyer back in action. If Iyer is ruled out of the IPL 2023 then Rana will continue to lead the team in the 16th edition of the cash-rich league.

Kolkata Knight Riders Updated Squad: Nitish Rana (Captain), Shreyas Iyer (Subject to fitness), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, Narayan Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Weise, Kulwant Khejrolia, Mandeep Singh, Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan.