Nitish Rana became the captain of KKR

The team of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has announced its new captain for IPL 2023. Nitish Rana has been handed over the command of the team for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Kolkata's regular captain Shreyas Iyer is currently battling a back injury and could be ruled out of the entire IPL 2023 season. However, Kolkata Knight Riders expressed hope that Shreyas will definitely be available for some matches in IPL 2023. In IPL 2023, KKR will play their first match against Punjab Kings on the 1st of April.
Nitish Rana is associated with Kolkata Knight Riders since 2018. KKR bought Nitish Rana for Rs 8 crore in IPL 2023 mega auction. Rana, who has played one ODI and 2 T20 matches for India, has so far scored 2181 runs in 91 IPL matches. During this, his average was 28.32 and the strike rate was 134.22. He has scored 15 fifties in IPL. He made his debut in IPL in 2016. Apart from Kolkata, Rana has also played IPL for Mumbai Indians.
Rana was the second-highest run-scorer for KKR last season behind Shreyas Iyer with 361 runs. During this, his strike rate was 143.82. Last season was a disappointing one for KKR as the team finished seventh in the league with six wins and eight losses.
Rana has captained his state team Delhi in 12 T20 matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Under Rana's captaincy, Delhi has won eight and lost four matches.
India's top-order batsman Shreyas Iyer could not play the Ahmedabad Test and ODI series against Australia due to back pain. According to reports, Shreyas Iyer has been advised of surgery by the doctors. If he undergoes surgery, it may take at least 5 months to return to the cricket field. In such a situation, he will not be able to play in the upcoming important tournament.
This season saw a change in the coaching staff of KKR along with Rana taking over as captain. Chandrakant Pandit will take over as the coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders. Former New Zealand legend Brendon McCullum was taking over as the head coach of KKR before Chandrakant Pandit. And Bharat Arun has been appointed as the bowling coach.
KKR Squad: Nitish Rana (c), Shreyas Iyer (injured), Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh, Varun Chakraborty, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Anukul Roy, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Harshit Rana, Liton Das, Kulwant Khejorolia, Suyash Sharma, Narayan Jagdishan, Vaibhav Arora, Shakib Al Hasan, David VJ, Mandeep Singh.