The cricket fandom is bracing itself for a sensational 2025 season soon after the player auction went down in Saudi Arabia for the first time. While this has already made the headlines, aficionados are pondering over the reigning champion, KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders), and its potential captain.
Unfortunately, the team lost its former captain Shreyas Iyer, unable to retain the 30-year-old against Punjab’s massive 26.75 crore bid. Now, with Iyer taking up the captaincy task at PBKS, who would be at the helm of KKR?
The team hasn’t yet announced a name despite retaining Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh before the auction. Not to mention, their choice to reserve the ever-impressive all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer. Meanwhile, the team also acquired Ajinkya Rahane for a stealer 1.5 Cr in 2025.
With that being said, let us dive deeper and look at KKR’s potential captain.
Ajinkya Rahane
At the top of the captain conversation is the 36-year-old former Indian captain, Ajinkya Rahane. Amassing a total of 4642 runs from 2008 to 2024 with a best score of 105*, the right-handed batsman is certainly a massive addition to the team. Though the Marathi couldn’t show his mettle last season at MI, his performance peaked in 2015 where he averaged 49.09, securing a staggering 540 runs. If that is not impressive, Rahane proved his leadership capabilities in domestic cricket – the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, leading Mumbai to a hard-fought title. Not to mention, the vast ocean of experience he brings to the team, playing in and around the world. And now that the team has acquired him from CSK, Rahane would definitely be a captain candidate.
Sunil Narine
The Trinidadian over the years has become the team’s talisman owing to his spectacular performance. Besides his prime duty as a marquee bowler, it is in KKR where he proved his worth and upped his stocks as a top order batsman. Furthermore, with his huge experience he can certainly be considered as a skipper option given the lack of experienced international options.
Venkatesh Iyer
While the team management left their star championship winning captain, Shreyas Iyer, they retained another Iyer – Venkatesh Iyer – for a staggering 23.75 Cr! Closely groomed and nurtured at KKR, Iyer gained the reputation of being a feisty all rounder. In fact, his previous year’s performance is a testament to the team shelling out crores for him. In 2024, he garnered a total of 370 runs from 14 matches with an average of 46.25. Though he was unable to take any wickets, he is indeed a home grown talent that could very well be the team’s captain.
Andre Russell
Another all rounder on the horizon! The West Indian heavy hitter was retained even before the auction showing the team’s faith in him. With over 200 runs in last season and 19 wickets, Russell certainly has his priorities straight. Moreover, his experience in West Indies national team, playing with and against some of the world’s best will definitely boost his credentials.
Rinku Singh
Despite being 4-seasons young 27-year-old Rinku Singh made the crowd go bonkers with his man of the match winning 42 off 23 knock against RR in 2022. Later on the next year, the youngster pushed the bar higher scoring five sixes in the final over. Thus chasing down 29 runs – the highest-ever chase in the last over in the tournament’s history. While age would be a deterrent to some, Rinku Singh is undoubtedly a skipper caliber material and is definitely on the management’s radar.
