Ajinkya Rahane Named KKR Captain For IPL 2025: Kolkata Knight Riders have named veteran batter Ajinkya Rahane as their captain ahead of the upcoming IPL 2025. The defending champions have also launched their new jersey.
KKR was by far the most impressive team in IPL 2024. Not only did they finish first on top of the league table. They reached the final and defeated SRH by a fair margin, winning their third league title in the process.
After such a great season, it was difficult for the franchise to retain only six players ahead of the IPL 2025 mega-auction. This was because not only did the Knight Riders win the previous season, but they also played a big role in revolutionising the league and T20 cricket as a whole, scoring scores close to 300 runs in 20 overs on multiple occasions in a season. This made it difficult to retain only six players from a team where there were about 10 crucial players.
But, as only six retentions were allowed ahead of the auction, the side used their limit of maximum retentions. However, in retaining some of their most crucial batters and bowlers, the Kolkata-based franchise did not bring back Shreyas Iyer, who was the captain of the title-winning team in 2024.
With no obvious options in their retained players for a captain, KKR had to fish in the market for their new skipper. They seemingly did this when they made all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer one of the most expensive players in IPL history for Rs. 23.75 crore. However, that did not happen.
Check Out: KKR Squad IPL 2025
Ajinkya Rahane Named KKR Captain For IPL 2025
Today, the Kolkata Knight Riders released their new jersey for IPL 2025. Apart from the beautiful design, the three stars above the team logo made headlines. What also made headlines during the jersey launch was the gold-layered IPL logo, which will now be a new thing for defending champions in upcoming seasons.
Apart from the much-awaited jersey launch, KKR also announced their captain for the 2025 season, and it was none other than Ajinkya Rahane. Rahane was bought by the KKR for Rs. 1.5 crore in the auction. He is a former India captain and led the Indian Cricket Team during the iconic 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He is also an experienced IPL captain, leading the Rajasthan Royals for several seasons in the 2010s.
While Venkatesh Iyer was not named the captain, he wasn’t kept away from team leadership as he was named the vice-captain of the side.
The Kolkata Knight Riders are prepared to become only the third team in IPL history to win the league two seasons in a row when they take the field in IPL 2025. Their first match of the season will also be the opening game of the season, against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on March 22 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Check Out: Ajinkya Rahane Named KKR Captain For IPL 2025
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