Ajinkya Rahane, who seemed to be more like an after-thought rather than a first-choice has been entrusted with the responsibility to lead the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the defending champions in the 2025 edition of the IPL. Rahane, who was bought at his base price in the accelerated round of the auction, may not even have been a part of the first XI, but will now be a starter and the top order will revolve around the veteran with the destruction, the style and fearlessness of the likes of Rinku Singh, Andre Russell and Ramandeep Singh to follow.
A couple of things might work in Rahane's favour even though there is a change in loyalties for him having played for the Super Kings in the last couple of years. Rahane was part of the KKR setup in 2022 and hence, will be familiar with the core group while he will also have the comfort of working with Chandrakant Pandit again, with whom he has played for Mumbai in domestic cricket in the past. And, that could potentially be the clincher in case of KKR staying somewhere there around the top half of the table or suffering from the sophomore syndrome immediately after winning the title.
"Chandu sir and I, we worked together when Chandu sir was with Mumbai team, and I know his methods. I mean, he's, he's very disciplined, very focused, and he knows how to get the best out of every individual,” Rahane had said at the KKR presser last Thursday. Last year, it was Gautam Gambhir and his group of Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate calling the shots. However, Pandit will have a job to do and hopefully, with some positive reports from the overseas players, which wasn't the case after 2023 when the decorated coach in domestic cricket was on the receiving end for his strict and militant approach.
Gambhir took his support staff to the Indian team with him and KKR brought in Dwayne Bravo and Ottis Gibson as part of the backroom staff. While there are changes in the leadership group, the core of the squad has remained the same and how quickly Rahane and the players, especially the newer ones will be one of the factors that decide how KKR go about their business in 2025.
"So for me, it's always about, having that good communication with our players, giving them that freedom on the field to express themselves and try and understand each other," Rahane further said. KKR paid a lot for Venkatesh Iyer, but since he scored fifties in both the first qualifier and the final, the franchise put their faith and broke the bank.
Iyer will take the other Iyer's place at No 4, who was the IPL-winning captain last year. The rest of the line-up bears a similar look with just a couple of changes. Quinton de Kock will be a like-for-like replacement for Phil Salt while KKR have added the likes of Spencer Johnson and Anrich Nortje to get over the big-money purchase of Mitchell Starc.
How does Angkrish Raghuvanshi come into the scheme of things and will they continue to have Sunil Narine will be the questions KKR will have to respond. Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy are coming off big international seasons and the former especially, will have eyes on him and expectations after a whirlwind 12 months.
If Rahane opens, does Sunil Narine slot back to 7/8? How will Vaibhav Arora, Nortje and Rana with Andre Russell in support perform at the death and form of skipper Ajinkya Rahane will make for decisive answers for how KKR do. The team as of now does look like a contender for the top four but a new leadership group and their camaraderie with the players keeps things in balance for now.
Kolkata Knight Riders squad: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Quinton de Kock, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Moeen Ali, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rovman Powell, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, Anrich Nortje, Spencer Johnson, Ramandeep Singh, Mayank Markande, Vaibhav Arora, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Anukul Roy, Luvnith Sisodiya, Chetan Sakariya