Nitish Rana named KKR captain for IPL 2023 as Shreyas Iyer recovers from injury

Kolkata Knight Riders have appointed Nitish Rana as their captain for IPL 2023, ending all the speculation surrounding their leadership position. Rana, who has been with the franchise since 2018 will take command as Shreyas Iyer continues to recover from his back injury. 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.

Earlier in the day, multiple reports claimed that KKR were contemplating promoting either Sunil Narine or Shardul Thakur as their captain as a stop-gap arrangement for Iyer. And while these were believed to be true, given the fact that Narine's association with the franchise dates back to over 2012, there were apprehensions around Shardul. It was also stated that KKR will be hosting a grand event to unveil their captain, but as it turns out, neither was true. KKR put out a post on their Twitter handle and a video on Rana to make the announcement.

Rana's ascension means that KKR will enter the IPL 2023 with a new captain-coach combination. Earlier, veteran coach Chandrakant Pandit was named the new head coach for the franchise, taking over from Brendon McCullum who quite last year ending a three-year-term to take up the role with the England national cricket team. Pandit boasts a bonafide coaching resume having won the Ranji Trophy six times with multiple teams, including leading Madhya Pradesh to their maiden title last year.

"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," the release further stated.

Rana's appointment however seems to be on an interim basis, with Iyer expected to miss at least the first-half of IPL 2023 due to a back injury he sustained during the fourth India vs Australia Test. He was sidelined from the ODI series and there is no fixed timeline about Iyer's comeback.