Kolkata Knight Riders have appointed Nitish Rana as captain for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise released an official statement regarding the statement while also stating that they hope for their regular skipper Shreyas Iyer to be fit at some stage of the season. Interestingly, reports were doing rounds that either of Sunil Narine or Shardul Thakur will be taking charge of the team is Iyer's absence. But the franchise has backed Rana who has the experience of leading Delhi in domestic cricket.
KKR, in their statement, expressed confidence in the new captain and felt that the new support staff including head coach Chandrakant Pandit will do wonders in IPL 2023. The franchise also cleared that the experienced players in the squad will lend support to Rana on and off the field throughout the season.
"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," KKR said in an official statement.
As for Nitish Rana, he has been associated with KKR since 2018 and has contributed decently for the team. The left-hander has so far played 74 matches for the team mustering 1744 runs at a strike-rate of 135.61. He will be hoping to lead from the front with the bat for the side. KKR are set to get their campaign underway from April 1 against Punjab Kings in Mohali.
