Nitish Rana has been named the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders for the Indian Premier League 2023 season, as regular captain Shreyas Iyer continues to recover from a back injury that has barred him from playing for at least the first half of the competition. The franchise confirmed the news on March 27 on their socials, expressing hope that Iyer "will recover and participate at some stage" in the tournament.
Alongwith Sunil Narine, who has been with the team since 2012 and led the KKR-owned Abu Dhabi Knight Riders at the inaugural ILT20 in the UAE this year, Rana was thought to be the front-runner. However, "with the captaincy experience of having led his state side in white-ball cricket and the IPL experience he has enjoyed with KKR since 2018", the management has given the captaincy to Rana.
"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 of 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," KKR said in a statement.