KKR's Big Captaincy Gamble, Rs 1.5 Crore Buy To Lead. Not Venkatesh Iyer

Kolkata Knight Riders' failure to bring back skipper Shreyas Iyer in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction has left the franchise bosses with plenty to ponder. The name of Venkatesh Iyer, the franchise's top buy at INR 23.5 crore in the mega auction, has surfaced for the leadership role but it seems like the 2024 champions have another player in mind. As per a report, Ajinkya Rahane is the No. 1 candidate to lead KKR in the IPL 2025 season. Rahane, bought in the auction for his base price of INR 1.5 crore, was reportedly purchased with the sole option of leading the team.

Rahane is a proven leader, having captained multiple teams in different formats across competitions. He has also led the Indian team in the absence of full-time skippers and is the captain of Mumbai's Ranji Trophy team at present. In the IPL, however, Rahane has only led the Rajasthan Royals, in the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

KKR, having failed to buy another captaincy candidate in the auction, are reportedly set to give Rahane the responsibility.

"Yes, at the moment it's 90% confirmed that Ajinkya will be the new KKR captain. He was bought by KKR specifically for the purpose of being a viable captaincy option," a source was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

Earlier, Venaktesh Iyer had himself thrown his hat in the captaincy ring. After being bought by the franchise for INR 23.75 crore, he made the big pitch to the bosses.

"I have always believed that captaincy is just a tag, but leadership is about creating an environment where everyone feels they can play for this team and contribute. If given the responsibility, I would be more than happy to do it," Venkatesh had told the broadcasters JioCinema.

"I had the opportunity to captain the side in Nitish Rana's absence when he was unfortunately injured, and I was the vice-captain as well;" he had asserted.

KKR could look to make Rahane the full-time captain for the 2025 campaign and hand Venaktesh the vice-captaincy. Such a structure would also enable Rahane to groom the all-rounder as a full-time captain for future.

The only other IPL team the 36-year-old previously led was Rajasthan Royals, in 2018 and 2019. The team just won nine of the 24 matches during the period.