IPL 2025: KKR CEO exposes truth behind Venkatesh Iyer’s captaincy snub

The 30-year-old Madhya Pradesh all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer was one of the hot favourites to get the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captaincy ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, but he was not given the role.

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) CEO Venky Mysore has now opened up on the decision to snub Venkatesh Iyer and hand the leadership duties to the veteran batsman Ajinkya Rahane.

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Ajinkya Rahane replaces Shreyas Iyer as KKR captain, Venkatesh Iyer named his deputy

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) delivered an exceptional performance under skipper Shreyas Iyer, mentor Gautam Gambhir and head coach Chandrakant Pandit in the previous edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

KKR played an exciting brand of cricket and went on to clinch their third IPL title by defeating the Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the final.

However, in the IPL 2025, it will be a huge challenge for the Kolkata Knight Riders to defend the title as Gautam Gambhir, alongside Abhishek Nayar, left the franchise to join Team India and Shreyas Iyer moved to Punjab Kings (PBKS).

Notably, KKR failed to retain Shreyas Iyer and he decided to enter the auction, where he was roped in by the Punjab Kings for a whopping INR 26.75 crore.

Meanwhile, KKR were desperately looking for a new captain at the auction table after losing Shreyas Iyer and they broke their bank to bring back Venkatesh Iyer for INR 23.75 crore. It was expected that he would take over the captaincy after expressing his desire to lead, but that didn't happen.

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), instead, appointed Ajinkya Rahane as captain, who was bought for his base price of INR 1.5 crore at the end of the auction when franchises got an opportunity to call back specific unsold players. Also, Venkatesh Iyer was named as vice-captain of KKR.

We are lucky we have got Ajinkya - Venky Mysore

In an interaction with ESPNcricinfo, Venky Mysore said that they rate Venkatesh highly but decided to appoint Ajinkya Rahane as skipper because of his maturity and experience.

"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," he said.

"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]."

Venky Mysore added that the role of a captain is very important in IPL as it involves dealing with media, managing players, and arranging team meetings along with several other responsibilities that only an experienced campaigner can handle. He said:

"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."

He's one for the future for us for sure - Venky Mysore

Mysore further said that Venkatesh has impressed them with leadership qualities and he is one for the future. He was also confident of Rahane taking Venkatesh Iyer under his wings and grooming him as the captain.

"We have been very, very impressed with the leadership qualities that he has shown. He's a franchise player and what he has shown in terms of how he participates, and the respect that others have around him, and the energy he brings [to the dressing room], so he definitely has got massive potential," he said.

"So, he's one for the future for us for sure. He clearly is captaincy material. Knowing Ajinkya, he will take him [Venkatesh] under his wings and mentor him on the captaincy side of things."