Nitish Rana has been selected as Kolkata Knight Riders’ stand-in captain for IPL 2023. The left-handed pitcher will replace Shreyas Iyer, who will miss the season’s opening due to a back injury.
Rana, a charismatic left-handed batter, has been with the franchise since 2018 and has scored more than 300 runs in each of the previous five seasons. The 29-year-old has previously captained Delhi teams on the Indian domestic circuit. He has also represented India in two Twenty20 Internationals and one One-Day International, both of which occurred during the tour of Sri Lanka in July 2021.
The two-time IPL champions were forced to choose a new captain
Following Iyer’s recurrence of a back injury during the fourth Border-Gavaskar Test against Australia in Ahmedabad. Longtime Knight Riders Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, as well as the current New Zealand Test captain Tim Southee, constituted alternative captaincy candidates.
The management remains optimistic that Iyer, whose services they acquired for INR 12.25 crores last season, will play at some point this season. “While we are hopeful that Shreyas will recover and play at some point in the IPL 2023 season, we feel fortunate that Nitish, with the captaincy experience he gained while leading his state side in white ball cricket and the IPL experience he has gained with KKR since 2018, will do a great job,” the franchise stated in a press release.
“We are also certain that he will receive the necessary assistance off the field from Head Coach Chandrakant Pandit and the support staff, as well as on the field from the highly experienced leaders in the squad. We wish him the best in his new role and Shreyas a healthy and swift recovery.” On April 1, KKR will begin their quest for a third championship with an away match against the Punjab Kings.
