Defending IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have appointed batting great Ajinkya Rahane as their captain for the upcoming season starting March 22. Though Rahane was a last-minute buy at the 2025 mega auction, he leapfrogged another contender, Venkatesh Iyer, for KKR’s captaincy, with the franchise’s CEO Venky Mysore explaining what helped him find a leader in India’s lost jewel Rahane.

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Rahane is a Test great, having played, won and even captained India in several famous outings over the years; however, after a poor run in the lead-up to the 2023 WTC Final, where he topped scored across both innings, Rahane lost his place to youngsters in the Test side. 

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In the IPL, Rahane featured for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for two seasons before this, winning the 2023 one before switching bases to KKR, for whom he played previously in 2022.

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Meanwhile, Iyer (bought for a whopping $2.3 million (INR 23.75 crore) played a handy role in helping KKR lift its third IPL last year and was the frontrunner for KKR’s captaincy but missed the bus on the experience ground.

"IPL is quite an intense tournament," Mysore said in a chat with ESPNcricinfo.

"Clearly, we think very well of Venkatesh Iyer, but at the same time, it [captaincy] is taxing on a youngster. We have seen lots of people having lots of challenges with it [handling captaincy] as they go forward. It takes a very steady hand, takes a lot of maturity and experience, which we felt Ajinkya brings with him,” he continued.

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Why Rahane?

Last year, Shreyas Iyer was the KKR captain, and despite leading them to an IPL title, he chose against getting retained by them, thus entering the auction pool, where Punjab Kings (PBKS) purchased him for a whooping INR 26 crore. On the other side, Rahane went unsold on day one of the mega auction but was the first name on day two, with KKR bagging his service for INR 1.5 crore.

Mysore said for what Rahane brings to the table with that wealth of experience, he stands out to lead the team heading into the new season.

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"He has played 185 IPL games, 200 international games across formats," Mysore said. "He has led India, led Mumbai in domestic, he's led in IPL. And he has played from season one of IPL. All that is massive. There should be no surprise at all [on appointing Rahane as captain].

Mysore explains the various other factors that they considered while opting for Rahane.

“Captaincy cannot be underestimated. This is going to be my 15th season, so I have seen a lot. It is not only about what you do on the field. There's a lot of [other] stuff when it comes to IPL, including dealing with media, and there will be expectations in terms of the captain. 

“At the same time, it is a new cycle, there is diversity in the team, if you have to be a successful captain, you have to invest in building relationships with everybody so that you know how to get the best out of everyone. And then there's preparatory stuff in terms of camps, bowlers' meetings, batters' meetings, interaction with coaches - that's a lot to take in. From that perspective, we are lucky we have got Ajinkya, who will be terrific for us. Not only as a captain, of which there's no doubt but also as a batsman. He has scored tons of runs,” he added.

(With inputs from agencies)