The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have recently named Ajinkya Rahane as their captain for the IPL 2025 season, with Venkatesh Iyer serving as vice-captain. This decision has sparked discussions among fans and analysts, particularly given Iyer’s record-breaking auction price and his expressed interest in leading the team. Ahead of the upcoming season of the cash-rich league, KKR CEO Venky Mysore recently shed light on the reasoning behind the franchise’s choice.

Venky Mysore explains why Ajinkya Rahane was appointed as captain

Rahane, a seasoned cricketer with extensive leadership experience, was seen as the ideal candidate to guide KKR through the high-pressure IPL season. Rahane has previously captained India in Test cricket, most notably leading the team to a historic series victory in Australia during the 2020/21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Additionally, he has captained IPL teams like Rajasthan Royals as well.

Further, in domestic cricket, Rahane has been in stellar form, leading Mumbai to titles in both the Irani Cup and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. His performances in T20s have been exceptional, scoring 469 runs in eight innings during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at an average of 58.62 and a strike rate of 164.56. These accomplishments underscore his ability to lead by example on and off the field.

“It takes a very steady hand, takes a lot of maturity and experience, which we felt Ajinkya brings with him. 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. From that perspective, we are lucky we have got Ajinkya, who will be terrific for us. Not only as only as a captain, of which there’s no doubt, but also as a batsman. He has scored tons of runs,” said Mysore as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Also READ: From Sourav Ganguly to Ajinkya Rahane: Full list of KKR captains in IPL history

Why Venkatesh Iyer was not given captaincy role?

Venkatesh, who was KKR’s most expensive buy at INR 23.75 crore during the IPL 2025 mega auction, had openly expressed his willingness to take on the captaincy role. However, Mysore clarified that while Iyer is highly valued by the franchise and possesses leadership potential, they wanted to ensure that he could focus on his game without the added pressure of captaincy.

“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,” added Mysore.

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