Ajinkya Rahane Set To Lead KKR In IPL 2025

Defending Champs Kolkata Knight Riders have announced Ajinkya Rahane as their skipper for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Knight Riders won their third IPL last under the leadership of Shreyas Iyer who was released by the franchise ahead of the mega auctions, he was subsequently picked by the Punjab Kings for a whopping prize of 26.75 crores. Meanwhile, their 23.75 crore recruit Venkatesh Iyer has been named as the deputy for Ajinkya Rahane for IPL 2025.

Ajinkya Rahane Honored To Lead KKR

"It's an absolute honor to lead the Kolkata Knight Riders this year, I feel we have a great bunch of guys, I'm really excited to work with everyone in the setup to defend our crown" Rahane said after the appointment.

This is a huge development for Ajinkya Rahane who initially went unsold in the mega auctions after enduring a tough campaign for the Chennai Super Kings (242 runs in 13 games). Ajinkya Rahane was only snapped up by the franchise in the accelerated round for his base prize of (1.50 crores).

This has helped Rahane get back his mojo back as he had a great Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament smashing 469 runs at an average of 58.62 & a brilliant Strike rate of 164 thus also helping Mumbai to claim the title beating Madhya Pradesh in the finals last year.

Venky Mysore On Rahane

"We are delighted to have secured the services of Rahane his leadership & maturity will help in building a good squad, we've Venkatesh who has been a seasoned campaigner for us, we are confident they will combine well & begin the title defense for us " KKR CEO Venky Mysore said.

This is the second time that KKR secured his services, having previously bought him before the 2022 season. He was only picked in seven games that year where he managed just 133 runs. In the following season he was picked by the Chennai Super Kings where he found his groove again & became a useful top order bat for them scoring 326 runs at a strike rate of 172.

Rahane also has captaincy experience in the tournament which he has played in since the first season in 2008. He led the Rising Pune Giants in one fixture in the 2017 season and in the following years he led the Jaipur based franchise Rajasthan Royals in 24 matches. In 2019, Rahane was replaced as the captain midway through the season from Steve Smith.

KKR had to fight it out for Venkatesh against RCB who gave them a stiff competition before KKR broke the bank to secure services of the dashing left-hander for a whopping 23.55 crores, fourth most expensive player in the auctions. Venkatesh was first signed in 2021 season in the covid-hit year for his base prize of 20 Lakhs. When the tournament got shifted to the UAE he got into his own & smashed 370 runs 10 innings, however, it was not enough as KKR failed to win the title. Ahead of IPL 2022 he was retained by the franchise INR 8 crores.

With Rahane and Venkatesh at the top positions, KKR will begin their title defense with the season opener against RCB on March 22 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.