THE Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) recently appointed Ajinkya Rahane like their captain for the IPL 2025 season, with Venkatesh Iyer serving as vice-captain. This decision triggered discussions between fans and analysts, in particular given the Iyer record auction price and its interest in directing the team. Before the next season of the league rich in cash, KKR CEO Venky Mysore Recently in light on the reasoning behind the choice of franchise.
Venky Mysore explains why Ajinkya Rahane was appointed captain
Rahane, an experienced cricket player with a large leadership experience, was considered the ideal candidate to guide KKR throughout the high pressure IPL season. Rahane previously had a captain of India in Test Cricket, including the conduct of the team to a historic serial victory in Australia during the 2020/21 Border-Gavaskar trophy. In addition, he also had a captain of the IPL teams like the Royals of Rajasthan.
In addition, in domestic cricket, Rahane took a stellar form, leading Mumbai to the titles of the Irani Cup and the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy. Its performance in T20s were exceptional, marking 469 points in eight rounds during the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy at an average of 58.62 and a typing rate of 164.56. These achievements highlight its ability to show an example on and out of the field.
“It takes a very regular hand, takes a lot of maturity and experience, which we felt that Jinkya brings with him. He played 185 IPL games, 200 international games through formats. He directed India, led Mumbai to Domestic, he directed to IPL. And he played from season one of the IPL. All this is massive. There should not be any surprise at all. From this point of view, we are lucky that we had Ajinkya, who will be great for us. Not only as a captain, of whom there is no doubt, but also as a drummer. He marked tons of races “,” said mysore quoted by espncricinfo.
Read also: From Surav Ganguly to Ajinkya Rahane: Complete list of KKR captains in the history of IPL
Why didn’t Venkatesth Iyer receive a captain’s role?
Venkatesh, who was the most expensive KKR purchase at 23.75 INR crores during the 2025 IPL mega sale, had openly expressed his desire to play the role of captain. However, Mysore clarified that even if Iyer is very appreciated by the franchise and has a potential for leadership, they wanted to make sure that he could focus on his game without the captain’s additional pressure.
“IPL is a fairly intense tournament. Obviously, we think very well of Venkatesh Iyer, but at the same time, that [captaincy] is taxing on a young person. We have seen a lot of people have a lot of challenges with [handling captaincy] As they advance, “ Adding mysore.
