In a surprising turn of events, Ajinkya Rahane has reportedly emerged as the frontrunner to be the next captain of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The defending champions picked up the veteran at the IPL 2025 auction for his base price of Rs 1.5 cr. The IPL 2024 champions are on the hunt for a new captain after releasing Shreyas Iyer before the mega auction.
Ajinkya Rahane to be new KKR captain in IPL 2025?
As per Times of India, Rahane is “90%” confirmed to lead KKR in IPL 2025. The report claims that KKR bought the 36-year-old simply because he was aa viable option for captaincy. Currently, KKR are left with no player who is captaincy material, although speculations of KKR’s richest buy Venkatesh Iyer set to become the next skipper. However, with reports of Rahane set to receive the responsibility, KKR might have just pulled off a brilliant strategy.
“Yes, at the moment it’s 90% confirmed that Ajinkya will be the new KKR captain. He was bought by KKR specifically for the purpose of being a viable captaincy option,” a source told TOI.
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Ajinkya Rahane is Mumbai’s captain, but just in the red-ball format alone. He was replaced by Shreyas Iyer before the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) preferred to go with a younger skipper instead of a seasoned veteran. Rahane was released by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ahead of the IPL 2025 auction and spent a memorable couple of seasons with MS Dhoni and co.
Rahane has captained various teams throughout his career, including leading India to a memorable Test series victory in Australia in 2020-21 while regular captain Virat Kohli was unavailable.
