Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) CEO Venky Mysore stated that Ajinkya Rahane’s experience and maturity made him a stronger candidate for the captaincy compared to Venkatesh Iyer. He also highlighted the challenges that a captain encounters throughout an IPL season.
New Delhi: Kolkata Knight Riders, the defending champions, have named Ajinkya Rahane as their captain for the IPL 2025 season. While Venkatesh Iyer and Sunil Narine were also considered for the role, the team’s management chose to rely on Rahane’s experience. It is noteworthy that Rahane was not the top choice for captain during the IPL auction, which has led to perceptions that his appointment may be a reaction to not securing other potential candidates for the position.
KKR CEO Venky Mysore remains unfazed by the criticism and mentioned that while Venkatesh’s name was considered, they were looking for greater ‘maturity and experience,’ which ultimately led to Rahane being chosen. It is worth mentioning that the all-rounder was acquired for INR 23.75 crore during the IPL auction and has been appointed as the team’s vice-captain.
“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.
“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],” he added.
Mysore emphasized that being a captain involves more than just leading the team during matches; it also requires significant effort to support them outside of the game. He pointed out that captains often face high expectations as they manage the team’s diversity and handle media engagements. For this reason, he considers Rahane to be an ideal choice to lead the team in the upcoming season, particularly following his success in securing a title.
“There’s a lot of [other] stuff when it comes to IPL, including dealing with media, and there will be expectation in terms of the captain. At the same time, it is a new cycle, there is diversity in the team, if you have to be a successful captain you have to invest in building relationships with everybody And then there’s preparatory stuff in terms of camps, bowlers’ meetings, batters’ meetings, interaction with coaches – that’s a lot to take in. From that perspective we are lucky we have got Ajinkya,” he mentioned.
