IPL 2025: 'KKR dug themselves a deep grave' - Ajinkya Rahane’s captaincy appointment faces backlash
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Kolkata Knight Riders finally named their captain for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League. Veteran India cricketer Ajinkya Rahane has been named the team's captain for IPL 2025 with Venkatesh Iyer as his deputy.
There were lots of speculations about KKR's captaincy when Shreyas Iyer left the franchise after the title win last year. After long discussions, the franchise decided to appoint Ajinkya Rahane as their captain.
The social media was buzzing after Rahane's appointment as the new KKR captain. While some of the users backed KKR to do well under Rahane, some of them were not in favor of this decision.
Also read: Babar Azam’s T20I career over as Pakistan star set to be axed
Twitter reacts as Ajinkya Rahane becomes KKR captain
All the best @ajinkyarahane88 & @venkateshiyer 💪🏻
— Abhinav (@AbhinavAT_07) March 3, 2025
Let's win our 4th IPL Trophy this year 💜🔥
🎊🎉 congratulations @ajinkyarahane88
— YJ (@YjGaming987) March 3, 2025
It's time to show all the haters what you're capable of✅
Title Defend chalu karte h khtam
— Movie_Reviews (@MovieReview_Hub) March 3, 2025
Fuck off @ajinkyarahane88 destroyed my beautiful team, just fuckkk offff fkn liability as always, shit cricketer
— 74 & 12 (@ict_kkr) March 3, 2025
What a stupid decision. Why did they spend 23.75 crore on Venkatesh Iyer then
— AayushKataria (@aayush11kataria) March 3, 2025
Rahane does not even make KKR's best XI on merit https://t.co/lT8Ji63k2e
This is ridiculous. Unless Rahane fires with the bat, KKR has dug themselves a deep grave. Venky should've been made Captain directly. https://t.co/bCrEKgYvuu
— Strike1andout (@Strike1AndOut) March 3, 2025
Wtf ma'an
— SK Chatterjee 🚩 (@SChatterjee02) March 3, 2025
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Fraud Ajinkya rahane the captain of my beautiful team in big 2025 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭#KKR https://t.co/CbOxQ1H0Ag
Bas 1.5 crore ka IPL Captain 😭
— Classic Mojito (@classic_mojito) March 3, 2025
KKR will not retain IPL for sure now
— Men’s Cricket (@MensCricket) March 3, 2025
Somewhat disagree, but looking at this situation venky already has a price tag burden and someone like rahane we can sit for this cycle as he has lots of experience to offer.
— 🦊 ™ (@spidermanX08) March 3, 2025
All the best 💜
@VenkyMysore Humbly reminding you that this team is DEFENDING CHAMPIONS and not irrelevant franchise to assign captaincy to an unsold player.
— Ricky (@rickysaji) March 3, 2025
I'm sure Gautam Gambhir wud have had the guts to appoint Venkatesh as his captain. Thanks for undoing the whole progress that GG did.
Ideally, rahane shouldn’t even be in the playing 11 for all matches, aur use captain bana diya.
— Aarchi (@Oye_Aarchi) March 3, 2025
HORRIBLE DECISION
— Mustafa Moudi (@Mustafamoudi) March 3, 2025
He doesnt even deserves to Play in the Starting XI but you people made him the captain !!
KKR go with experience
Ajinkya Rahane's appointment doesn't come as a big surprise as he was already among the contenders to lead the defending champions this year. He, alongside Venkatesh Iyer, were the big cnontenders for the role of captaincy.
However, the KKR team management decided to go with the experience of Rahane and appointed him for the role. Venkatesh Iyer is also a part of the leadership group and has been named as the vice-captain of the team.
Iyer was signed at a massive amount of INR 23.75 crore in the IPL 2025 mega-auction. The price tag seemed to be a little too much for a player who is not a regular part of the Indian team.
On the other hand, Ajinkya Rahane was signed for just INR 1.5 crore. Surprisingly, he went unsold in the initial rounds after a disappointing season with CSK last year. However, he was signed by KKR in the accelerated round for his base price.
Ajinkya Rahane's IPL numbers
Ajinkya Rahane has the previous experience of leading an IPL team. He led Rising Pune Supergiants in a solitary match in 2017 and then led Rajasthan Royals in the 2018 and partially in 2019.
Rahane is a highly experienced cricketer in the IPL having played 185 matches and scored 4642 runs at an average of 30.14 and a strike rate of 123.42. He also has two IPL centuries to his name.
The 36-year-old had a terrific season in India's domestic T20 tournament, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy recently where he emerged as the highest run-scorer of the season.
Rahane scored 469 runs in 9 matches at an average of 58.62 and a strike rate of 164.56. He played a key role in Mumbai's title-winning run.
The IPL 2025 will begin on March 22 with KKR taking on RCB in the opening game of the season. With Rahane becoming KKR's captain, Delhi Capitals remains the only team in the IPL not to have appointed any captain so far.
