Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
On Monday, March 3, the defending champions of Indian Premier League (IPL) and three-time champions, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) announced their skipper for the forthcoming season. The purple and the gold franchise has appointed Ajinkya Rahane as their captain for IPL 2025, which is set to commence from March 22.
Furthermore, KKR also confirmed Venkatesh Iyer as Rahane’s deputy for the upcoming season after they bought him for a massive sum of INR 23.75 Crore at the IPL 2025 mega auction, held in November 2025 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It is to be noted that Ajinkya Rahane returned to the Knight Riders after previously playing for the side in IPL 2022. He was signed for a price of INR 1.5 Crore in the mega auction.
Honoured too be asked to lead KKR: Ajinkya Rahane on being appointed as KKR captain
Speaking after the announcement, the co-owner of KKR Venky Mysore said, “We are delighted to have someone like Ajinkya Rahane, who brings his experience and maturity as a leader. Also, Venkatesh Iyer has been a franchise player for KKR and brings a lot of leadership qualities. We are confident that they will combine well as we start the defense of our title.”
Furthermore, Rahane also expressed excitement on taking over the leadership role as he said, “It’s an honour to be asked to lead KKR, which has been one of the most successful franchises in the IPL.” “I think we have an excellent and balanced squad. I look forward to working with everyone and taking up the challenge of defending out title,” he added.
The three-time IPL winners, KKR will kickstart their title defense on March 22 as they take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Eden Gardens. They will then travel to Guwahati to take on inaugural title winners, Rajasthan Royals before coming back to their den for two back-to-back matches against SRH and LSG respectively.
KKR’s squad for IPL 2025
Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Mayank Markande, Anrich Nortje, Vaibhav Arora, Rovman Powell, Spencer Johnson, Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodia, Ajinkya Rahane, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Umran Malik
