IPL 2023: Not Narine, Shardul or Russell! Nitish Rana named KKR captain after Shreyas Iyer's injury

After Shreyas Iyer's back injury during the India-Australia Tests, his participation in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 became doubtful. Amid such uncertainty, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) were left with a huge concern; to get an additionalbatter and a new skipper for IPL 2023. On Monday (March 27), the two-time winners KKR named Nitish Rana as their captain for the forthcoming season while they remain hopeful of Iyer's return in the latter stage of the tournament.

The IPL 2023 edition kicks off on March 31 with the defending champions Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans (GT) taking on the MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Ahmedabad. KKR, on the other hand, will open its campaign against the Shikhar Dhawan-led Punjab Kings (PBKS) at thePunjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali on April 01. Thus, Rana will have a herculean task to fill up Iyer's place as the new skipper amid the presence of star players such as Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Tim Southee, etc.

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Many thought KKR would appoint Narine, Shardul, or Russell as their new skipper for IPL 2023. However, Kolkata have gone ahead with Rana who is a veteran in the IPL. The left-hander has been a part of the IPL since the 2016 edition and represented the Mumbai Indians (MI) and KKR (joining them in 2018).

In IPL 2022, Rana amassed361 runs at a strike rate of143.82 with two half-centuries. He has scored over 300 runs in every season for the KKR franchise. He has led the Delhi team in the Indian domestic circuit. The 29-year-oldhas also represented India in two T20Is and an ODI.

'While we are hopeful that Shreyas will recover but we feel fortunate that Nitish will do a great job'

A release from the franchise said, "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."

"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," it added.

Complete KKR squad for IPL 2023

Nitish Rana (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, Narayan Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Weise, Kulwant Khejrolia, Mandeep Singh, Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan.