Nitish Rana named KKR captain for IPL 2023
Nitish Rana
|| CF DESK ||
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8 Apr 25
Kolkata Knight Riders have appointed Nitish Rana as their captain in the absence of Shreyas Iyer, who is recovering from a back injury.
Rana was one of two candidates for the interim captaincy along with Sunil Narine, who joined the franchise in 2012 and has been with them ever since.
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, who finished last out of six teams with one win and eight losses, were recently led by Narine in the inaugural International League T20.
“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,” confirmed the side in an official statement.
“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. We wish him the best in his new role and Shreyas a full and speedy recovery.”
Rana scored 361 runs at a strike rate of 143.82 last season, ranking second among KKR's run scorers behind Shreyas. The team had a disappointing season, finishing seventh in the league with six victories and eight defeats.
With Rana taking over as captain, KKR will have entirely new leadership this season, with Bharat Arun being named bowling coach and Chandrakant Pandit succeeding Brendon McCullum as head coach.
