Newly Kolkata Knight Riders captain Nitish Rana has been appointed Kolkata Knight Riders in the absence of Shreyas Iyer for the 2023 IPL season.
Kolkata Knight Riders had a disappointing 2022 IPL finishing at number 7th in the points table with 6 wins and 8 losses. Nitish Rana has captained Delhi in 12 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy matches and hoping to lead KKR to much better performances this season.
“Yes, the captaincy tag came this year. Obviously, there is responsibility on me, and I like that as well,” added the southpaw, who joined the franchise in 2017. “I don’t want to follow anyone in captaincy.
“I would like to lead on my own because I know if I follow any captain, I will lose myself somewhere,” added Rana. However, the two-time champions are hoping that the Indian batter would be back on the field sometime in IPL 2023.
Man management is most important when it comes to leading an IPL side and Rana didn’t shy away from accepting the fact. “Obviously, in IPL it’s all about man management because all the players are coming from different cultures,” said Rana, who has played two T20Is for India.
Kolkata Knight Riders would look to play well in front of the home crowd at Eden Gardens, Kolkata as the IPL 2023 is back with home and away matches. It promises to be an exciting challenge for Nitish Rana and new coach Chandrakant Pandit.
Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of the Indian Premier League 2023 due to a back injury. KKR will begin their tournament against Punjab Kings on 1 April at PCA Stadium, Mohali. Nitish Rana and Co would be looking to make amends for poor performance last year.
KKR squad for IPL 2023
KKR bought Rahmanullah Gurbaz traded from Gujarat Titans, Shardul Thakur from Delhi Capitals, and Lockie Ferguson from Gujarat Titans. They purchased Narayana Jagadeesan for 90 Lakhs, Vaibhav Arora for 60 Lakhs, Suyash Sharma for 20 Lakhs, David Wiese 1 Crore, Kulwant Khejroliya for 20 Lakhs, Liton Das for 50 Lakhs, Mandeep Singh 50 Lakhs and Shakib AL Hasan 1.5 Crore.
They retained Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakvarthy, Anukul Roy, and Rinku Singh.
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