IPL Auction 2025: KKR ditch Rahul, Pant, Iyer; target 30-year-old star for captaincy

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) aren't much interested in getting the overseas captain for the next edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. As per the reports in RevSportz, it is learned that they are keen to bring Nitish Rana back to the squad in the IPL 2025 auction.

The reports claimed that if Nitish Rana will be back in the KKR for the IPL 2025, the left-hander is likely to take over the leadership of the team.

It is learned that the star batter gained a lot of respect for team management in the last few years with the kind of impact he has made.

Nitish Rana impressed KKR with the way he captained the team during the absence of Shreyas Iyer

🚨KKR won't bid extravagantly for an overseas captain. They will look to get Nitish Rana back who gained a lot of respect by Gautam Gambhir led KKR coaching staff due to the way he led the team during the absence of Shreyas Iyer.

-Subhayan Chakraborty, RevSportz pic.twitter.com/HJb55yooAe

— KKR Vibe (@KnightsVibe) November 14, 2024

The reports claimed that Rana impressed Gautam Gambhir and his coaching staff with the way he captained the team during the absence of Shreyas Iyer. Hence the management is unlikely to bid extravagantly for an overseas captain in the IPL auction 2025.

Rana was named as the captain of the KKR after Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the IPL 2023 due to injury. The Southpaw did a decent job for the team although the team failed to make it into the playoffs of the league in the tournament.

Nitish Rana has been part of the Kolkata Knight Riders setup since 2018

Nitish Rana has been part of the Kolkata Knight Riders setup since 2018. He has been one of the most consistent batters for the team and has never scored below 300 runs in a single season, barring the 2024 season, where he was injured for the majority of the season.

In IPL 2024 for Kolkata Knight Riders, Nitish Rana played just 2 games and scored 42 runs at a strike rate of 123.53. With the kind of impact he has made for the franchise in the league, he surely would be on the radar of the team going into the IPL auction 2025.

Kolkata Knight Riders are in need of a new captain after Shreyas Iyer parted ways with the team

Kolkata Knight Riders are in need of a new captain, and this came after the franchise didn't retain Shreyas Iyer. There were several reports that claimed that the batter demanded INR 30 crore from the franchise, and the franchise couldn't agree to his demands.

The reports came the dialogue between Shreyas Iyer and Kolkata Knight Riders didn't go well. This came as a massive surprise because the batter guided the team to the Indian Premier League (IPL) title in 2024 and helped them clinch their third trophy.

IPL 2024 Champions retained Rinku Singh, who was their top retention at INR 13 crore and also spent INR 12 crore each for Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, and Varun Chakaravarthy. They also re-signed two uncapped players, Ramandeep Singh and Harshit Rana, for INR 4 crore each.

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