Has Ajinkya Rahane virtually confirmed that Venkatesh Iyer will be the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season? After taking Mumbai to the semifinal of the Ranji Trophy, Rahane was asked about him leading KKR in the 18th edition.
Ajinkya Rahane hasn’t had captaincy talks with KKR
It has been reported for months now that Rahane has a great chance of replacing Shreyas Iyer. Apart from him, there are only a couple of captaincy candidates the Knights have. Venkatesh, Rinku Singh, and Sunil Narine would be the ones who can take over KKR. But as far as Rahane is concerned, no one from KKR has asked him or proposed anything.
“No such talks have taken place yet. If it happens, you’ll probably know before me,” Rahane told reporters in Kolkata after Mumbai beat Haryana.
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Rahane ready to be ‘a leader’ at KKR
Among those mentioned above, no one barring Rahane has led in the IPL. Venkatesh doesn’t even captain Madhya Pradesh in domestic cricket. Rinku became the Uttar Pradesh T20 captain after the IPL 2024 season. Narine has led two KKR franchises (Los Angeles Knight Riders and Abu Dhabi Knight Riders) but hasn’t been trusted with the leadership role despite Shreyas Iyer missing the IPL 2023 season.
Meanwhile, Rahane has led the Rajasthan Royals and the Rising Pune Supergiant. He’s also had a great resurgence as a batter, first with the Chennai Super Kings and then for Mumbai in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
“I have captained before, played in different conditions, and handled responsibility. As a leader, my goal is to bring out the best in my teammates and help them perform as a unit,” Rahane added.
KKR squad for IPL 2025
Rinku Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Quinton de Kock (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Anrich Nortje, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Spencer Johnson, Luvnith Sisodia, Ajinkya Rahane, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Umran Malik.
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