IPL 2023: Kolkata Knight Riders Name Star Batter As Skipper In Injured Shreyas Iyer’s Absence

Nitish Rana has been appointed stand-in skipper for Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 in the absence of Shreyas Iyer who suffered a back injury during the recently concluded Test series between India and Australia. Several media reports suggested that both Rana and veteran West Indies spinner Sunil Narine were being considered for the leadership role, but the franchise confirmed their decision on social media. Rana, who has been part of the KKR side since 2018, has led Delhi in white-ball cricket and he will be supported by senior cricketers like Andre Russell and Shakib Al Hasan.

“Kolkata Knight Riders today announced that Nitish Rana would captain the side in the absence of Shreyas lyer, who is recovering from a back injury. 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 KK since 2018, will do a great job,” KKR said 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.”

KKR will play their first IPL 2023 encounter against Punjab Kings on April 1.

Players bought in IPL 2023 auction-Shakib Al Hasan (Rs 1.50 crore), N. Jagadeesan (Rs 90 lakh), Vaibhav Arora (Rs 60 lakh), Suyash Sharma (Rs 20 lakh), David Wiese (Rs 1 crore), Kulwant Khejroliya (Rs 20 lakh), Litton Das (Rs 50 lakh), Mandeep Singh (Rs 50 lakh).

Players retained ahead of IPL 2023 auction –Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Tim Southee, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh.