Nitish Rana to lead Kolkata Knight Riders in absence of Shreyas Iyer

Batter NitishRana will be the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders (IPL) in the absence of regular skipper ShreyasIyer, who is currently recovering from a back injury, the franchise announced on Monday.

The announcement was made on official Twitter handle of the franchise. Though the franchise hopes that Shreyas will make a comeback at some stage during the league, they have chosen to bank on Nitish’s experience as a skipper for Delhi in domestic cricket in the shorter format. They also wished Iyer a full and speedy recovery.

“Kolkata Knight Riders today announced that NitishRana would captain the side in the absence of Shreyaslyer, who is recovering from a back injury. 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 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.

We are also confident that under Head Coach ChandrakantPandit and the support staff, he will get all the support needed off the field, and the highly experienced leaders in the squad will provide all support that Nitish may need on the field.
We wish him the best in his new role and Shreyas a full and speedy recovery,” said KKR in a statement shared on twitter.

Rana has been with KKR since 2018. He has scored a total of 1,744 runs for the team in 74 matches at an average of 26.02. He has scored 11 half-centuries for the side with the best score of 87.

In his IPL career, which also saw him play for Mumbai Indians from 2015-17, he has scored 2,181 runs in 91 matches at an average of 28.32, with 15 half-centuries and the best score of 87. His strike rate of 134.22 makes him a valuable asset for the side at the top.

Rana has a solid win-loss record as a captain. He has led Delhi in 12 T20Is in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the country’s top T20I domestic competition, winning eight matches, and losing four. Iyer is likely to miss the first half of the IPL 2023, reported ESPNCricinfo
last week.