Rana named as IPL 2023 KKR Captain: Two times IPL title winner Kolkata Knight Riders have named Nitish Rana as their captain for the IPL 2023 season. Ahead of the IPL 2023, KKR has retained Shreyas Iyer as their captain but unfortunately, he too joined the IPL 2023 ruled-out players list after suffering a back injury.
IPL 2023 KKR Captain
Shreyas Iyer who was named in the Indian squad for the Australia 3-match ODI series was ruled out of the series before the 1st match. Iyer had to leave the Ahmedabad Test due to a recurrence of a back injury and will undergo surgery.
In the absence of Iyer, KKR named Nitish Rana as the captain who has been with the franchise since 2018. Rana has led his state team Delhi in 12 T20s at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, winning eight and has scored 1744 runs from 74 matches at a strike rate of 135.61 for KKR.
“Kolkata Knight Riders today announced that Nitish Rana would captain the side in the absence of Shreyas lyer, who is recovering from a back injury. 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 KK since 2018, will do a great job,” KKR said in an official statement.
“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.”
As per IPL 2023 schedule, KKR will play their first match against Punjab Kings on April 1 in Mohali. Rana has played 91 matches in IPL so far and scored 2181 runs at a strike rate of 134.22 and bagged 7 wickets in total.
IPL 2023 Squad – KKR
| Player | Role | Auction Price | Nation |
| Nitish Rana(c) | Batsman | INR 8 crores(R) | India |
| Rinku Singh | Batsman | INR 55 Lakhs(R) | India |
| Varun Chakravarty | Bowlers | INR 8 Cr(R) | India |
| Tim Southee | Bowlers | INR 1.5 crores(R) |
New Zealand
|
| Umesh Yadav | Bowlers | INR 2 crores(R) | India |
| Andre Russell | All-rounder | INR 12 Cr(R) |
West Indies
|
| Venkatesh Iyer | All-rounder | INR 8 Cr(R) | India |
| Sunil Narine | All-rounder | INR 6 Cr(R) |
West Indies
|
| Anukul Roy | All-rounder | INR 20 Lakhs(R) | India |
| Shardul Thakur | Bowler | Traded from DC | India |
| Lockie Ferguson | Bowler | Traded from GT |
New Zealand
|
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz | WK-Batsman | Traded from DC |
Afghanistan
|
| Harshit Rana | Bowler | INR 20 Lakhs(R) | India |
| N. Jagadeesan | WK-Batsman | INR 90 lakh | India |
| Vaibhav Arora | Bowler | INR 60 lakh | India |
|
Suyash Sharma
|
Bowler | INR 20 lakh | India |
|
David Wiese
|
All-rounder | INR 1 crore | Namibia |
|
Kulwant Khejroliya
|
Bowler | INR 20 lakh | India |
| Litton Das | WK-Batsman | INR 50 lakh | Bangladesh |
| Mandeep Singh | Batsman | INR 50 lakh | India |
| All-rounder | INR 1.5 crore | Bangladesh |
