Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have appointed Nitish Rana as their stand-in skipper, for the 2023 season. The franchise announced its decision via an Instagram post on Monday, 27 March. Rana will be taking over from Shreyas Iyer, who at the moment remains out of action due to a back injury and it is not known at the moment when he can return to the action.
Kolkata’s announcement comes after some of the sources of India Today in BCCI had revealed that Iyer might opt for back surgery due to his recurring problems. If surgery is to happen, Iyer will be ruled out for at least 4-6 months depending on the speed of his recovery.
KKR released a statement on Monday that they are hoping that Shreyas Iyer will be returning to competitive cricket at some point in IPL 2023, but feel fortunate that they can hand over the captaincy to the left-hander who has been an integral part of the KKR batting order since 2018.
View this post on Instagram
In a statement confirming the captain, KKR said, “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.”
Nitish Rana has not captained at the big stage before, and this will be the first time that he will be performing leadership duties on a full-time basis. Rana has been a big part of KKR’s batting order, which punched above its weight in the later stages of the tournament, with uncapped India players like Rinku Singh lighting up the tournament.
Rana will be under the guidance of Chadrakanth Pandit, a much-revered name in Indian domestic cricket. Pandit made his name on the domestic scene by converting small teams into champion sides. Pandit will be expected to revive KKR to its former glory.
