IPL 2025: KKR appoint Ajinkya Rahane as their new captain, Venkatesh Iyer to be his deputy

KKR Captain: Three-time winners Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), one of the most loved teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL), has announced their new captain for IPL 2025. They have appointed veteran batter Ajinkya Rahane as their new skipper for the upcoming edition of the tournament. At the same time, batting All-Rounder Venkatesh Iyer will be seen handling the vice captaincy duties. 

Announcing the new captain, KKR CEO Venky Mysore said, "We are happy to have a person like Ajinkya (Rahane), who brings his experience and maturity as a leader. Also, Venkatesh Iyer has been a franchise player for KKR and has a lot of leadership qualities. We are confident that they will make a good combination when we start defending our title."

On receiving the captaincy of KKR, Ajinkya Rahane said, "It is an honor to lead Kolkata Knight Riders, one of the most successful franchises in the IPL. I think we have a great and balanced team. I am looking forward to working with everyone and taking on the challenge of defending our title".

KKR won the title in IPL 2024, Shreyas Iyer was the captain

Let us tell you that Kolkata had won the title of IPL 2024 by defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the final. KKR became the champion under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer, but ahead of the IPL 2025 Mega auction, the franchise released Iyer, their champion captain. Everyone was surprised by this. Since then, the team has been looking for a new captain. IPL 2025 will start from March 22. Now KKR will be seen playing under the captaincy of Rahane.

It's going to be the second stint of Rahane with the Kolkata-based team, having previously played for them three years ago in 2022, when he only managed to score 133 runs in seven games at a strike rate of 103.90. 

Following that season, he joined CSK in 2023 and rejuvenated himself as he brought out his A game for the franchise, scoring 326 runs at a mind-blowing strike rate of 172.48. The following season of 2024 wasn't that good for the veteran though, as he wasn't able to maintain his explosive form and his strike rate dropped down to 123.46 after scoring just 242 runs. 

The veteran comes into the IPL 2025 season on the back of an outstanding batting performance for Mumbai in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024-25, where he was the highest run getter with 469 runs to his name at a strike rate of 164.56.

The 36-year-old is not new to captaining teams in the cash-rich T20 league, having led the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in 24 matches in 2018-19 and one match for the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017. He was replaced as the skipper of RR midway through the 2019 edition of the tournament. 

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