Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Venky Mysore has revealed why the defending champions appointed Ajinkya Rahane as their captain for the IPL 2025. Rahane was one of the contenders for the KKR captaincy alongside Venkatesh Iyer.
After getting picked by KKR in the mega auction for Rs 23.75 crore, India all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer was the front-runner for the captaincy of three-time IPL winners. However, KKR appointed Rahane as their skipper, which surprised the fans.
According to franchise CEO Venky Mysore, Rahane’s vast experience and “maturity” in handling an “intense” tournament such as the IPL made him the automatic choice to lead KKR.
“IPL is quite an intense tournament. Clearly, we think very well of Venkatesh Iyer, but at the same time it [captaincy] is taxing on a youngster.
We have seen lots of people having lots of challenges with it [handling captaincy] as they go forward. It takes a very steady hand, takes a lot of maturity and experience, which we felt Ajinkya brings with him,” Mysore told ESPNcricinfo.
Mysore explained why it wasn’t a surprising decision, given Ajinkya Rahane’s impressive record as a leader.
“He has played 185 IPL games, 200 international games across formats. He has led India, led Mumbai in domestic, he’s led in IPL. And he has played from season one of IPL. All that is massive. There should be no surprise at all [on appointing Rahane as captain],” the KKR CEO.
The KKR’s CEO also mentioned that Ajinkya will mentor and groom Venkatesh Iyer to be the next skipper of the franchise.
“Knowing Ajinkya, he will take him [Venkatesh] under his wings and mentor him on the captaincy side of things. So, in a way, I expect they will be kind of joined at the hip and working very closely together,” Mysore said.
“We have been very, very impressed with the leadership qualities that he has shown. He’s a franchise player and what he has shown in terms of how he participates, and the respect that others have around him, and the energy he brings [to the dressing room], so he definitely has got massive potential. So, he’s one for the future for us for sure. He clearly is captaincy material,” he added.
Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will lock horns with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the first match of the IPL 2025 at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata on March 22.
