Nitish Rana announced as interim captain of KKR in place of Shreyas Iyer
Nitish Rana has been handed the reigns of two-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League. The left-hander replaces Shreyas Iyer, who is recovering from a back injury.
Announcing the news of interim captain, the franchisee stated, “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.”
The franchisee further said, “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.”
Nitish Rana has been with the franchise since 2018 and has scored upwards of 300 runs in each of the five seasons. The 29-year-old has captaincy experience leading Delhi teams in the Indian domestic circuit. He has also represented India in two T20Is and an ODI, with all three of his international experiences coming on the tour of Sri Lanka in July 2021.
With Nitish Rana taking the captaincy duties, the coaching duties are being handled by Mumbai stalwart Chandrakant Pandit. Pandit replaces Brendon McCullum as the head coach, while Bharat Arun is appointed as the bowling coach.