IPL 2023: Nitish Rana To Lead Kolkata Knight Riders In Absence Of Injured Shreyas Iyer

New Delhi: Kolkata Knight Riders have announced Nitish Rana as their new skipper in the absence of injured Shreyas Iyer  for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, the franchise announced on Monday.

“Kolkata Knight Riders today announced that Nitish Rana would captain the side in the absence of Shreyas Iyer, who is recovering from a back injury,” the two-time champion stated in a media release.

However, KKR are still hopeful that Iyer will play some part at some stage of IPL 2023. “We are hopeful that Shreyas will recover and participate at some stage in the IPL 2023 edition,” the statement added.

Rana’s name was doing the rounds for a while alongside the likes of Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh and Andre Russell for KKR leadership. However, Rana was preferred due to his experience in leading Delhi in domestic cricket.

“We feel fortunate that Nitish, with the captaincy experience 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 added.

Iyer complained about a back pain during the fourth Test against Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy. He didn’t bat in the game and was ruled out of the ODI series that followed. According to reports, Iyer was advised a surgery but the India batter is awaiting the medical report before taking any decision.

A surgery means Iyer will out for atleast six to seven weeks which means he will be in doubt for the ODI World Cup that India is hosting in October and November.