Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) made two big decisions before and during the IPL 2025 auction. They kept their star batsman Rinku Singh as their top retainer and bought Venkatesh Iyer for a whopping INR 23.75 crore during the auction , making him the third most expensive player in the IPL 2025 auction.

The key reason behind acquiring them was to give him dual responsibility and make them his next leader. With Shreyas Iyer released and moved to Punjab Kings (PBKS), KKR needed a captain to succeed Iyer, who helped KKR win their third title in IPL 2024.

Given the amount spent on them, Rinku or Venkatesh emerged as the leading contenders to take over leadership duties next season after Iyer’s omission. However, a new report by the Times of India (TOI) indicated that KKR view Ajinkya Rahane, bought at his base price of INR 1.50 crore, as their next captain.

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“Yes, at the moment it is 90% confirmed that Ajinkya will be the new captain of KKR. He was bought by KKR, especially with the purpose of being a viable captaincy option,” a source told TOI.

Ajinkya Rahane’s previous captaincy credentials

Captaincy is not new for Ajinkya Rahane as he previously led Rising Pune Supergiant (RPSG) in 2017 and Rajasthan Royals (RR) in 2018 and 2019 in the IPL. As captain, he scored 583 runs at an average of 25.34 and a strike rate of 122.22 in 24 IPL innings, including two fifties.

Under his leadership, Rajasthan Royals could only win nine matches out of 24 and lost the only match in which he captained Supergiant. Recently, he was removed from the captaincy position of the Mumbai national team, with Shreyas Iyer, who has a proven track record, being given the additional responsibility.

It would be ironic if Rahane replaces him as KKR captain as responsibilities will be swapped. However, he does not have a proven batting record in IPL.

Barring a one-off stint with Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Rahane has done nothing significant and his methods are often outdated. Even his place on the team is often unconfirmed, and making him captain can backfire.

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